Read Acts 24-28
In the closing chapters of the book of Acts, the forces of evil seem to pull out all the stops to silence Paul and halt the progress of Christianity. He is put in prison, forced to go through several trials (the legal kind), endures a violent storm and shipwreck, is bitten by a poisonous snake, and finally is placed under house arrest. Wow! If anyone had a good excuse to be discouraged or doubt, it was Paul.
Yet listen to how the book of Acts ends: “Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31). Since the word order in our English translations is often different from the original Greek, it’s easy to miss that the last word, in the original language, is “unhindered.” It’s actually an adverb, which in English is an awkward way to end a sentence, much less a book: “unhinderedly.”
But theologically, this is powerful! Though Satan tried to prevent Paul from sharing the good news, the final reality is that Paul was unhindered. In the same way, things may not go smooth in our lives, but we still can praise God—unhindered. We may have ups and downs financially, but we still can let God love us and love others through us—unhindered. And we have the assurance that even if our life on planet earth is taken from us, we believers will be taken by angels to heaven—unhindered.
May God give us the boldness to live fully for Jesus today, regardless of our circumstances—unhindered!
- Rick Stedman serves as the Senior Pastor of Adventure Church
