Issue 23 Chaos and TruthBlog | When the whole world seems upset
When the whole world seems upset
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 12.03.26
This is not, of course, a new problem. Those who were part of the early church in Acts were, to be frank, walking around as if they were in a complete fog. We know what happened at the end of the book but they certainly didn’t have a clue how things would turn out.
When we catch up with old Paul in the final verses of the final chapter of Acts, he is stuck under house arrest in Rome. But he was doing what he had always done since he stepped out as the most unlikely convert to The Way. He was in his own rented quarters and ‘welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ’.
Through all the years he had seen more than his fair share of chaos. Yet through the persecution, shipwrecks, torture and trials, he seemed to hold onto his sanity and to his assurance. Why was this?
Confiscate my car keys and tell me I can’t go home without giving an answer, and I would say that the irreducible core of Paul’s conviction was in how he understood the kingdom of God. It’s the tangible availability of the kingdom of God – right here, right now – that saw Paul through all the chaos in his life.
When professor of philosophy and Christian teacher, Dallas Willard, taught on the kingdom he would start by saying that we each have our own mini-kingdom. Going up to a person in the audience who had a purse or handbag, he would ask what they would do if he started going through it?
