Paul spent two years in Ephesus, daily discussing the faith with people from all over the region. His teaching took root. People started to follow Jesus and change the way they lived in response.

Which frustrated Demetrius, a local silversmith who grew wealthy crafting idols of the Greek god Artemis. Ephesus boasted a major shrine to Artemis, and the local economy relied on the constant flow of worshipers to the city.

Paul persuaded people that handmade gods weren’t really gods at all, a shot to the pocketbook of those craftsmen who made gods by hand. Demetrius launched a riot and the mob – cancel culture in togas – dragged two of Paul’s companions into a rowdy amphitheater of Artemis lovers. Only after the quick-thinking mayor calmed the crowd did they filter away.

A truly converted person experiences changes in their affections, which changes their habits, which changes where they spend their money, which changes their relationships with certain businesses, which changes the local economy. Which is why owners of certain businesses, like idol-crafting, oppose these conversions. It hurts the bottom line.

Which moves me to my affections. Where might I face the temptation to shade my faith in order to increase my bottom line? I don’t have to invest in the idol industry to look away from the Lord in order to gain more.

Paul later instructed Timothy, the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). Perhaps Paul had Demetrius and the Ephesian silversmith guild in mind as he wrote these words?

Acts 19 in week nineteen of reading the Bible cover to cover