Acts 25:26 “Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord.”
Observation: Festus had a real problem on his hands. Paul had come into the Roman justice system for discipline, yet Rome’s representative had to confess to King Agrippa that he had no meaty charges to levy against Paul. Festus was faced with the certain knowledge that Paul had done nothing deserving death, yet he also knew he would appear foolish in Caesar’s eyes by forwarding Paul to Caesar without meaningful charges.
Application: Paul was caught in the Roman system of justice whose wheels ground inexorably toward conclusions that bore no relationship to the original charges. This one sentence demonstrates that Festus, like everyone else, bows before and gives allegiance to someone or something. Festus was saying that he gave lordship to the Roman emperor because he had power and authority over Festus’s career and, indeed, his life.
God wired me to worship, and worship something I shall. Whether I pour through the latest issue of People magazine lusting over bodies beautiful or seek to build the most impressive home in the neighborhood, I am built to yearn for the approval and acceptance that come from being deemed desirable in others’ eyes. But what we give lordship to speaks volumes about not just our present condition, but about our eternity, as well.
I must go to the Lord constantly to renew my commitment to make loving Him and allegiance to Him the only high priority of my life. He says that I am to “love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength” (see Mk 12:30). Everything else doesn’t then necessarily become unimportant, but all else must occupy no more than second place in the allegiances of my heart.
Prayer: Father, I choose today to shake off and turn away from everything I have loved more than I love You. I ask You to shed Holy Spirit light on my heart to bring conviction of sin where I am sinning; I agree to turn down the noise, to turn off the bright lights of life, to turn away from unrighteousness so that I can truly say that You alone are my Lord.