Monday Reading: Acts 10:34-35
Key Verse: Acts 10:35
35 but in every nation he who fears Him and works righteousness is accepted with Him.
Devotion:
What do you think makes a person? Too many times we will look at the condition, circumstances and qualities of a person in order to come up with what we think makes that person; but what actually makes that person is their substance and not their outward state. If two people are placed in exactly the same conditions and surroundings we would see them handle things in a different way because they are different people. That difference is what is inside them, their substance, and not what they look like.
We separate people because of things like wealth, race, religion and location because they are things that are immediately apparent to us. When God looks at people, He separates us because of the things that He can see easily – and that is our substance. He does not get bogged down by the things that we are limited by but looks at the inner person and works with that. Any person has the ability to come back to God and to become a true Christian despite what they look like, how they behave or what religion they say they uphold. There are many who will say they are Christians because they attend a church and do all the things that Christians should do outwardly. But unless that person believes on Christ and upholds Him as our Saviour, then they still have not taken that final step, the one God is waiting for us to take.
It does not matter where we come from. What matters is that we believe that God is God and that He is just and will not accept anyone into heaven who does not believe in Him. What matters is that we believe that there will be consequences should we choose not to believe in Christ. These consequences are more horrible than we can imagine. What matters is that we believe that Christ is the one who came forward to lay down His life to pay for our sins so that they can be forgiven and that we can be accepted into heaven. This is the promise that Christ gave to us and that we need to believe and depend on with faith. With that faith we will learn to be more like Him too.
Points to Ponder:
What do you believe makes a person?
How do you think God will see you when He looks from the inside out?
