Acts 24:10-27
With true oratorical instinct, Paul began his address with a kindly word to Felix. He had confidence in appealing to him, since the governor had been so long in his position that he knew well the laws, and could understand and appreciate the facts which Paul was about to state. Paul’s fine courtesy appears in these words. Some good people are careless about their manners. They do not think it worth while to be always kindly and refined, and sometimes they speak brusquely or act rudely. This is not the Christian way. “Love … doth not behave itself unseemly.” Courtesy is a Christian duty. We should study the art of pleasing others. Many a man’s light is kept from shining out brightly by the faultiness of his manners.
“This I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers.” While Paul was most strenuous in denying the false charges against him, he was very careful to confess himself a believer in Christ. We should never be ashamed in any place or in any circumstances to own ourselves Christians. Anyone can confess Christ in a Christian Endeavour prayer meeting, where all are doing the same, or at the Lord’s Table, where only Christians are sitting. But our Master wants those who confess him here to confess him just as boldly when they are out among his enemies in the world.
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