I love reading Acts 18:6, But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Why do I love this particular verse? Because it is the beginning of our Gentile Christian heritage. Because the Jews rejected Christ as the Messiah and they reject Paul’s teachings, the Gentiles became the recipients of Paul’s full attention. We can trace the roots of our faith back to this very verse. God has a perfect plan for each of us. When it looks like one path is closed or closing it is usually because God wants us to go down a different path that fulfills His perfect plan.
2012 Day 158 – Acts 18
06 Wednesday Jun 2012
Posted in Daily Reading
Daily Devotion 
As an interesting cultural sidenote: the Jews still bicker and haggle to this day about religion. I have a ton on of Jewish friends and its just become a joke for them.
Again we see Paul not forcing himself on people. He pushes to a certain point but when its time to go, he’s off.
Agreed, Sarah! If you wish, read my response to Tim below…
Don’t miss that Crispus, the synagog leader (president?), became a believer even in the midst of the Jews arguing Paul for the sake of argument, which I’m guessing from the use of the term ‘abuse’ may have actually looked like one of our current political “discussions” on cable news, or even made our tv pundits look civil.
I wonder at what point did Paul realize that further efforts were wasted on this crowd and it was time to move on?
Also super fascinating to me is how Paul was more than willing to pull his weight to feed himself, and then when Titus and Timothy showed up they allowed him to focus full time on preaching and discipling.
This is great Tim! I think you hit it on the head when you imply that Paul realized it was time to move on. The important thing is that Paul realized it was not his job to convince, but to simply present the gospel in the best way his gifts. talent, and leading from the Holy Spirit would allow. We tend to get hung up on people not accepting Christ and we take it personally. It’s not about us, it’s about Christ! We are to be obedient in what Jesus commands, which is to represent and reflect Him.