Birthed in chaos best describes the church in Thessalonica. Paul writes to the church a bit later (1 Thessalonians), and in his praise remembers how they welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

I flipped back to Acts 17 to review the wild account. Paul arrived in town and preached for several weeks at the synagogue. Jews, God-fearing Greeks, and quite a few prominent women joined the Jesus movement. But fierce opposition arose in the form of a riotous mob. They shouted to the city officials, These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here!

Turned the world upside down, indeed. The believers snuck Paul out of town under the cover of darkness, and he escaped to the next city.

But the Thessalonian church members stayed put. Planted in their now hostile hometown, they faced opposition and suffering, accompanied by an unusual characteristic—joy.

People come to faith in Jesus under all sorts of circumstances. As Paul traveled and shared the gospel, multitudes embraced his message. The Holy Spirit empowered these new believers to face hostile neighbors with bravery and joy, exactly like many Jesus-followers today.

When Jesus invades a life, there’s no telling how a person will respond—or how the people around them will react. Joy and opposition often dine together in the lives of those who follow Jesus.

Like Paul, we simply follow the Lord’s command to preach the gospel, and let the Holy Spirit clean up the mess.

1 Thessalonians 1 in week twenty-four of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Pablo Heimplatz