Live and Let Live?

No good deed goes unpunished.

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. - Acts 16:16-24

Now you could argue that by provoking Paul and Silas, the demon in the girl was asking to be called out.  But how does this look to the owners of the slave who benefit from what they see as her skill and her trade?

To them, she is a business that Paul and Silas destroy.  That is not how they see it, though.  To Paul and Silas, this girl is held prisoner and they free her.  

Imagine this was happening today.  If the girl is being held against her will and forced to work for others, we would probably feel like Paul and want her to be freed.  

There are consequences when we choose to help others extricate themselves from danger or crime.  We may find ourselves punished and beaten.

The question is, are we ready to commit ourselves to whatever it takes to help others?

Paul and Silas are flogged and put in prison for doing what they knew was right.  But because their actions messed up the game plan, they had to suffer the consequences.

So, do we live and let live, or do we take action to make someone's life better?

The choice is ours.  We have a free will.

And that is the issue, isn't it?  The girl no longer had the ability to choose, so she needed to be freed.

When freedom is denied, we need to act.

Sounds simple.  But as we know from all the lives lost over the years, freedom comes at a heavy cost.

More to come...