Dedication and Determination

Bible Readings... Acts 14
Highlighted Verse... Acts 14:19-20 - Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city.
Thoughts... As Paul and Barnabas travel on the first missionary journey they experience many successes. With each success, however, some non-believers rise up in jealousy. In Lystra, the local population wants to worship them as gods, but troublemakers from Antioch and Iconium arrive and whip the crowd into a frenzy. They take Paul off, stone him, and leave him for dead. So what does Paul do next? He gets up, dusts himself off, and goes back into town.
How it impressed me... Paul was completely sold out to Christ. Nothing was going to stop him from fulfilling the mission that Christ had set before him. He wasn't going to let the people worship him instead of the living God and he wasn't going to let the threat of death keep him from his appointed rounds. 
My response to God... Lord God, you reign throughout the earth, and yet I fail to acknowledge you sovereignty. I put my goals ahead of yours... I quit when I get tired or bored or defeated... help me to take on the dedication and determination of Paul... to strive onward in the face of difficulty and temptation without looking back or veering off course.