The Way God Wants to Be Seen
The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?
Acts 13:4-10 (NIV)

Saul has been doing ministry among Jews in Damascus and Jerusalem, then is shipped off to Tarsus. Now, encountering a sorcerer while witnessing to the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus, it signals that the Lord’s invitation is moving beyond the Jews and salvation is being offered to the Gentiles. Saul, named after Israel’s first king from the tribe of Benjamin, also had the Roman name Paul at birth. Luke uses Paul here because it suits evangelism to a Roman official and Gentiles. The Lord needed him to show up in this new space in a way that helped God accomplish His will.

Paul is sharing the gospel with a Roman official, part of that world that connects with his Roman name. God at times needs you to show up in ways that make His presence more inviting and impactful. The challenge is: Can you accept in faith that the Lord is asking you to show up in spaces based not on how you want to be presented, but how He wants to be presented? How you’re seen in one space may differ from another, requiring sensitivity to the Spirit to steward how He expects you to be heard.

Sometimes we want to show our full selves—opinions, brilliance, titles—but feel convicted to limit it, to listen more than talk. It’s all about how you steward yourself so that you won’t frustrate how the Lord wants to be seen.

The gospel sounds the same from Saul as it does from Paul, but it will impact the official’s life when received from a fellow Roman citizen, Paul, rather than Saul. Where the Lord has you and who He has you around is so that He can be seen and heard to make salvation and the kingdom a priority.

We often say, “I’m not changing for anyone,” preferring our own ways. But the text teaches that the Lord expects us to steward our lives to support the gospel’s impact. The principle is: Be your whole self everywhere, but steward your whole self with the Spirit. How you show up aligns with how He wants to be revealed in that space.