Baptism of Fire
How do we make our lives count for God?
There’s no one line answer, but if the book of Acts is anything to go on, we have to be willing to face a baptism of fire.
Paul and Barnabus head off to Cyprus on the first leg of what we now call Paul’s first missionary journey. They’ve taken Barnabus’ young cousin, John Mark, with them.
The Jews in Cyprus don’t seem very open to the gospel and the trip is proving largely fruitless. But then something unexpected happens. The Roman Governor of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, hears about the little missionary group and invites them for a special audience. Paul tells him the gospel message but finds one of the Governor’s counsellors, Elymas, is a sorcerer who does everything he can to stop the Governor responding to the gospel. Paul sees right through Elymas and God strikes Elymas blind.
This conflict between light and darkness has great impact. The Roman Governor becomes a Christian (the only Roman Governor in the New Testament to do so). But John Mark finds this more than he can handle, and when it is decided that their next destination will be pagan Pamphylia, John Mark leaves Paul and Barnabus to return to his home in Jerusalem.
John Mark’s baptism of fire was a fairly taxing mission that ended with spiritual fireworks. He would have been quite unprepared for the spiritual warfare confrontation and was obviously so shaken by it all that he decided he couldn’t go on.
Be prepared for your own baptism of fire. It’s part of God’s preparation for you.
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