Holding Together

I have no idea who this couple is.  

I snapped their picture at Cannon Beach one day, because they intrigued me.

They have a story I wish I knew, and I wanted to ask questions.  

How long had they been in love?  What had they been through all those years? What had held them together?  

What is the secret of making it through the ups and downs of life?

I didn’t ask this couple.

But I studied the lives of Aquila and Priscilla this week, and I found the answer.

Not only for couples, but anybody going through ups and downs.

There was a “constant” in Aquila and Priscilla’s life together.

There was a solid truth that Paul never lost in his life alone.

Something we could each take to heart as they did, and let it change our perspective.

Aquila and Priscilla worked with Paul at tentmaking.

They opened their home to Paul for a year and a half.

They traveled together.

They ministered together.

They were willing to “lay down their own necks” for Paul if that would have helped him the most.

A church met in their home in at least two different cities. 

They had the joy of mentoring a stalwart man of God.  Apollos was eloquent and “mighty in the Scriptures,” but he needed guidance.  This couple taught him, and he listened.

According to church tradition, Aquila and Priscilla were beheaded together--martyred for their faith at the same time.

If Paul had put a tombstone on their grave, he may have written the same words more permanently etched in his epistle to the Romans:  “My helpers in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 16:3)

They were always coming alongside others to serve.

Someone once said, “The servant of God is not the one reaching for the top, but the one reaching for the towel.”

This was definitely true of Aquila and Priscilla.

But there’s more to that "epitaph" than just thanksgiving for their service.

They were “. . . in Christ.”

Aquila and Priscilla went through the ups and downs of life with that solid truth holding them together.

And Paul did, too.

These godly individuals worked a day job, served others, taught the Scriptures, and sacrificed their lives.

But what mattered most to them was that they were “in Christ.”

No matter what they lost in life, nobody could take that away.

No matter what they gained, nothing was better.

Their occupation was their livelihood.

But who they were in Christ was their life.

That’s the secret to holding together, no matter the ups and downs.

(Click Here to listen to "Aquila and Priscilla")