Mountains flow right into valleys. Have you noticed? Not only in topography but also in life. One moment the crowd in Lystra and Derbe wanted to worship Barnabas as Zeus and Paul as Hermes – the god of speech. They were just about to sacrifice bulls to them, when Barnabas and Paul tore their clothes in despair and said, “God wants to save you from idolatry.” Had they arrived at the pinnacle of personal popularity?
Soon afterward a group came from out of town, turned the crowds against them and stoned Paul leaving him for dead. Then a group gathered around him, he stood up and pressed on, toward the mark of the high calling of Jesus Christ. Low point? How does one go from mountain to valley so quickly?
After a large crowd showed up to hear Winston Churchill speak, he responded by saying, “An even larger crowd would have gathered if I were being hanged by the neck.” In the end, success is not measured by what others think of us. Crowds can be fickle. We do all that we do for an audience of One! Is God pleased with you today? That is enough to sustain you for another day.
