Divine Details

“Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles.”  Acts 21:19

You can be sure that the eyewitnesses of Easter never told their stories in mere summary—“Went to tomb but didn’t find corpse.  Talked to angel and headed home.” Oh no. Instead we can be sure that over and over they shared the delightful event in juicy and joyful detail.  The darkness of the early morning, the brightness of the waiting angels, the rolled away tombstone, the stunning announcement, the collapsed burial linen, the carefully folded head cloth, the bewilderment, the fear, the hope, the belief.  Bare bones wouldn’t do when their big God had done such a big thing.

Fast forward a few decades to the Apostle Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem at the end of his third mission trip.  As soon as he got there, Paul got together with the church leaders, “greeted them, and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry”(Acts 21:19).  A short and simple, “Good trip. God did a lot,” just wouldn’t do.  As they listened with excitement, Paul told the men of two years of daily lectures at the hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus.  He told them of bonfires where believers who had formerly practiced sorcery burned scrolls worth 50,000 days’ wages.  He told them of a God “who did extraordinary miracles so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them”(Acts 19:11).  He told of his all-night sermon in Troas and of Eutychus’ back to life experience after dozing off in a dangerous place.  In juicy and joyful detail, Paul recounted how the death and resurrection of Jesus was changing lives around their world, and “when they heard this, they praised God”(Acts 21:20).  The abridged version would have been an inadequate description, for God is in the details.

Some things are just too good—and too God—to summarize.

When you give “just the facts,” give them fully, and others will give God praise.