Protecting the Truth

The She Reads Truth devotional today was on Priscilla.  Growing up in church, I've always heard Priscilla mentioned as one of the most influential women in the early church, but I didn't know much more about her.

I love how the Bible is always relevant.  I'm sure I haven't read this passage since getting married, so it spoke to me in a different way this time.  In Acts 18, we find Apollos speaking in Ephesus.  I studied Apollos pretty extensively in one of my writing classes in college.  He was an eloquent orator of this time.  And what he was teaching & preaching was true, but it wasn't the whole truth.

 "He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately." {Acts 18:26}

That one verse says two important things to me:

one) Partial truth wasn't enough.  God insists on the full truth.  Priscilla & Aquila could have let that slide, but they felt a responsibility to the Truth & spoke boldly to protect it.

two) As far as I can tell, every time Aquila's name is mentioned, Priscilla's name is there also.  This would not have been the norm at that time for the woman to be mentioned, by name, just as often as the man.  It seems clear to me that Priscilla & Aquila were in a marriage that was united for one mission - the Gospel.  They lived radically for the sake of the Gospel.  They risked their lives to protect Paul.  They were the Church.

"Do not be surprised when God uses you for the Kingdom.  Do not be surprised when His plans are greater than the plans you imagine for yourself [...] Saying yes to the Lord goes far beyond logistics [...] it reaches beyond the gifts we feel comfortable using." {She Reads Truth}

I hope that I would do the same.  I hope that I would insist on Truth.  We have this opportunity almost daily in our culture.  Society tells us so many things that are wrong.  Things that seem like they are logical, until we hold them up to Truth & look at them in light of the Gospel.  Knowledge is a gift.  It's not something we should take advantage of & hold closely to ourselves.  It's meant to be shared.  When we know the Truth, it's our responsibility to share it.  To live lives that show we believe it.  That's rarely something I'm comfortable with, but God didn't call us to be comfortable; He called us to look like Him.