21 They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
Paul was just stoned and left for dead in the city of Lystra. Stoning is a horrible way to die. Your natural instinct is to protect your head when people are throwing stones at you. This means that you are not knocked unconscious as soon as possible. You are awake for many of the blows. Finally, as one of the stones hits your body you react to the pain and pull your arms away from your head for a moment. It is at that moment that a rock hits your head and you get knocked out. Then the stoning continues until they are satisfied you are dead. Finally, they drag your body outside the city to be eaten by wild animals. You are not considered worthy of a proper burial. This is what they did to Paul in Lystra. And just a short time later, Paul returns to this town to encourage the people who became disciples of Jesus. What courage! From a human standpoint, not the smartest or wisest thing to do, wouldn’t you agree! That is probably the last place I would want to go. And yet this is exactly where Paul goes. He is not afraid of death. He is compelled to preach. I think disobedience scares Paul more than death. He wants to remain faithful to the end. And God honors his faithfulness. We might not be called upon to endure stoning, but we are called to remain faithful to the call of God on our lives. We each have a place of ministry, a calling if you will, and we all are responsible for carrying out that ministry. In some parts of the world today Jesus-followers are being tortured and killed for their faith, and they are remaining faithful. Can we stay faithful even if we are not tortured?
The Arnold Journey 