Be Still And Know

Galatians 6:17 Alan Paton wrote a book called Cry, the Beloved Country (Simon & Schuster) and was a fierce opponent of apartheid in South Africa. He once wrote about his death: “When I go up there, which is my intention, the Big Judge will say to me, Where are your wounds? and if I say I haven’t any, he will say, Was there nothing to fight for? I couldn’t face that question.” If we are willing to stand up for truth and justice in this world, we will pay a price for it. That was certainly the apostle Paul’s experience. He was thrilled with the new life that Christ had given him, but he had to pay a very high price. When he wrote to the church in Corinth, Paul recounted the many occasions when he had suffered physically. He had been: “whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty- nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea” (2 Corinthi