Thursday Reading: Acts 5:34-39
Key Verse: Acts 5:39
39 But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God.
Devotion:
It is a pleasing thing to be counted as one who would stand up and be counted for Christ but nothing near as pleasing as it is to know that we are counted for a sure thing and not for a fly by night sect or religion. The chief priests had made a religion out of the laws that God had lain down for man to follow; whether they wanted to admit it or not they were more concerned about getting men to follow the rules than the actual Word of God. That is a place where we should not aim to be.
When the Pharisee Gamaliel stood up and talked he spoke with wise words and maybe he was one of the ones that tried to keep God in their religion rather than giving in to man’s ranting and ravings. Gamaliel knew that God could never be overthrown because He is our creator. Whether he actually wanted to believe that Christ was the Son of God or not at that time, I’m sure he would have had time to think about it before he died. We have so many people posing as the good guys nowadays that we find it hard to find the truth when we look for it. It is not because it is not there but rather that it is surrounded by so many people that try to lift themselves up higher than God that by the time we get closer to God we grow tiresome of all the false doctrine that we are inclined to give in before we go far enough.
God’s Word continues to be spoken by men and women who are willing to uphold the truth; our problem is that we are surrounded by so many who are trying to follow on from Christ’s success that the truth is hidden behind too many lies for some to believe. The people who look the closest are often the greatest deceivers. None of us likes to be deceived and so many give up seeking God because they are deceived by those few that look like they should know what they are doing – and yet the truth finds their deceit out and that destroys many people’s confidence in God. We need to stand firm and proud to make sure everyone sees that we are serious about the truth!
Points to Ponder:
What things stopped you from being a Christian?
Are you relying on the actual truth?
