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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Tuesday, February 17, 2004 Shooting the Moon |
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Frontline Devotion for Tuesday, February 17, 2004, by Anne B. Crawford
Bible text:
Acts
24:1-27
If you are familiar with the card game “hearts” then the title of this
devotion has a particular meaning. In the game of hearts you can win in
one of two ways. The way most people try to win is by accumulating as few
points as possible, which means not winning heart ‘tricks’ (if players are
playing heart cards and your heart card is the highest number you “win” the
“trick.” In addition to not wanting to win tricks, you do not want to
get stuck at the end of the game with the queen of spades, because that counts
for 13 points. However, the other way to win, is just the opposite – it
is trying to win every heart trick AND end up with the queen of spades. If
you do that, it is called “shooting the moon.” It is a much riskier
maneuver and requires a lot of confidence and nerve to actively seek what others
are avoiding.
I thought of the term “shooting the moon” when I considered Paul and
today’s reading. Paul was certainly taking chances. He had been
falsely accused in Jerusalem by those who were threatened by his belief in Jesus
Christ, jailed, the subject of a murder plot (thankfully unsuccessful), and in
Acts 24 shunted from jail in Jerusalem to go before the Roman governor Felix in
Caesarea. At each of these points, he had the opportunity to avoid trouble
and be set free, if only he had kept quiet, or perhaps simply claimed that he
had been heard wrong, or misunderstood. But Paul stood firm, he was proud
to ‘win each trick’ and continue to proclaim Jesus as Lord. Oh, he
wasn’t above a few ‘tricks’ of his own – like playing his Roman
citizenship card to avoid a beating in Jerusalem, and eventually playing his
riskiest card by demanding that he be judged by Caesar in Rome – but he hung
in there and used what we might consider to be trying circumstances to triumph
for Jesus. That’s staying power, that’s ‘shooting the moon’ in a
big way, not for personal gain, but to gain souls for God.
Paul’s faithfulness wasn’t easy. His arrest in Jerusalem was the
beginning of several years of captivity culminating in his being sent to Rome.
But along the way, he was a powerful witness. Every time he was asked to
explain himself, he told the truth and witnessed to God’s saving love through
Christ. Are you prepared to ‘shoot the moon’ in your witness for
Christ? To take big risks for big gains? Some days I think I am, but
most days probably not. Still, I can look to Paul for inspiration to be
just a little bit bolder and and a little more willing to accept that the
rewards of a faithful life may not be immediate or dramatic and may even get me
in some trouble in the short term.
Heavenly father, we know that faith is not a game and not to be taken lightly.
But sometimes we need to refresh our faith with zest; to be bold in pursuit of
what appears to be unlikely outcomes. In these times Lord, refresh us,
encourage us, and help us ‘shoot for the moon’ in acting out our faith.
Amen.
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