Take a moment to read Acts 19:23-41 before reading the devotional below.
Money makes people do a lot of crazy things. Greed can almost accidentally take over when a business owner starts to make a decent profit. Here in Ephesus, Demetrius is a silversmith with a thriving business making statues. Idols, to be specific. And it was all going well until some guy named Paul showed up and started convincing people that the statues were worthless.
We can easily read this story and pay attention to what happened between Paul and Demetrius. We can look at the rioting city of Ephesus. But if we do that we’d miss the kingdom battle playing out. This is Jesus versus Satan all day long. It really centers around a pretty huge spiritual question: who or what can bring us life? Paul was proclaiming his answer, and since ancient times the Ephesians had put their hope in this fertility goddess.
Just like Paul, we are participants to the degree that God invites and calls us individually and collectively. But the battle in Ephesus wasn’t really about Paul or Demetrius (even though the mayor of the city came to that very earthly conclusion). Jesus is doing the work of reclaiming people for his kingdom. This territory fight is one that affects us, but it is not ours. We are always more free when we place the authority back on Jesus and operate underneath the work he is already doing.