Acts 19: 17 When this became known to
the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with
fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many
of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery
brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated
the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the
Lord spread widely and grew in power.
============
“Jackpot, I found a checkbook”
a friend of mine said. Broke and hungry we thought of ways we could use this to
our advantage, although I felt something say “this is wrong.” We didn’t want to
“steal” so we simply went to the grocery store and bought goods that would last
us a month. On the way home my car broke down. The cost to repair was almost
exactly half of what we spent.
- There were times when I knew I was doing something wrong but did it anyway.
- There were times when I lied to myself, trying to justify what I knew was wrong.
- There were times when I thought I could get away with something only to find myself in a worse spot.
Some people who wanted notoriety,
tried to cast out demons in the name of JESUS who Paul preached about. A demon
responded to them through the possessed man and stripped them naked, beating
them bloody in the process. The news of this scared many. They believed in
JESUS, confessed what they had done and turned from their deep sin.
- GOD wants me to come to HIM when I am not scared.
- GOD wants me to believe in JESUS when things are going well.
- GOD wants me to accept HIS gift of love when I am not worried, afraid or hurt.
Love is shown by GOD all the
time. Unfortunately, I ignore it until something goes wrong. Sometimes
something major has to go wrong for me to turn my eyes to GOD. Fortunately for
me, GOD is gentle, kind, peaceful and full of love.
Not only does HE allow me to
choose a path of calamity, HE does not rub it in my face when I return to HIM,
begging HIM for forgiveness. Instead, HE welcomes me back with open loving
arms. I am glad GOD’s grace is sufficient.
- Are you hiding something?
- Do you think you are getting away with the thing you did?
- How long do you want to remain a prisoner to your hidden sin?
- Will you confess publicly what you have done and turn away from your sins by believing JESUS is your Savior today?
No comments:
Post a Comment