Daily Reflections From Higher Things®

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 13:1-18; Acts 23:12-35 When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. (Acts 23:12) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Ever feel like people are out to get you? Maybe you have been bullied or had a friend betray you. Maybe someone told lies about you or posted awful things about you on social media. As difficult as that was, it doesn't compare to what Paul went through. Paul was a hated man. As we read in Acts 23, 40 men made an oath not to eat or drink until they killed him. By their actions, you might think those men were outlaws, part of some terrorist cell or a street gang. But they were nothing of the sort. They were religious zealots, ultra-conservatives, wild-eyed fundamentalists convinced they were doing God's will. One of the greatest evils in the world is religion gone bad, for when someone does evil in the name of religion, they actually believe they are doing good and will justify anything. The Jews