阅读经文 

当人一旦获得分享见解或观点的发言权时，就会产生一些特定的影响力。令人遗憾的是，有些人似乎不懂得必须先去争取到这份权利，才能有机会分享自己的观点。

保罗在雅典之行中表现出色。作为一个基督的信徒，他对雅典城到处都是偶像感到苦恼。圣灵使保罗对那里的情况有所了解。这座城市以成为思想温床而著称并且引以为豪，人们崇拜各种各样的神明（以偶像为代表）。事实上，很多人“都不顾别的事，只将新闻说说听听。”

于是保罗开始和市场上的人辩论。他花时间听他们讲论，他们也对他关于耶稣的新的信息很感兴趣。他们说他们想了解更多，尽管他们并不完全理解他在说什么。这样，保罗争取到了分享独一真神的权利，许多人就因此相信了。

我们很容易对这个世界的现状感到愤怒，或对事情的发展方向感到沮丧，但是愤怒和争论并不是解决问题的办法。保罗走进了思想的迷雾中，通过与人连接，获得了分享神的话语权，并了解到在他们眼中看来什么是重要的。

Something special happens when someone earns the right to share an insight or opinion. Sadly, some people don’t seem to understand that there are times when you have to earn the right before you can share your opinion.

In his visit to Athens, Paul was brilliant. As a follower of Christ, he had become distressed that the city of Athens was full of idols. And the Spirit gave Paul some insight into what was going on there. The city took pride in being a hotbed of ideas, and people engaged in the worship of all kinds of gods (represented by the idols). In fact, many people “spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.”

So Paul began to reason with people in the marketplace. He had taken time to listen to them, and they were intrigued by his new message about Jesus. They said they wanted to hear more, even though they didn’t fully understand what he was saying. In this way Paul earned the right to share about the one true God, and many people believed.

It can be easy to get mad at the world, to be frustrated with how things are swinging one way or the other—but getting angry and combative is not the answer. Paul walked into the midst of a confusion of ideas and earned the right to share about God by connecting with people and gaining a sense of what mattered to them.