Wednesday Reading: Acts 5:25-29
Key Verse: Acts 5:29
29 And Peter and the apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
Devotion:
There will come a time when you are faced with the decision of following Christ or following man and what you choose is going to be important, not just for you but for those around you as well. The disciples were faced with this decision after being told by the chief priests that they ought not to continue preaching the gospel because they said so. Maybe there will be a time when people are going to confront you with that same choice – choosing to continue following Christ rather than man is going to be the only choice that you need to make.
If we follow man then we should expect nothing other than what man can give us and when man dies, there is nothing. But if we are followers of Christ then we can expect to receive what Christ can give us. He has promised us eternal life for everyone who will believe on Him and call on His name; that is a promise and not just something that someone said. These chief priests were very powerful because of their position in society and yet when they were faced with the possible wrath of the people they stepped very carefully. Christ has no need to step carefully because of the wrath of man for we are the ones who have to fear the wrath of God instead.
God’s love for us continues even when man’s pride and lust get in his own way. God’s love was displayed in ways which make anything that man can do pale into insignificance. Why then do we stand up and think that we can stand against God – if we are not for God then we must be against Him. That is our choice. Paul and the apostles made their choice abundantly clear to the chief priests and God continued to bless them for demonstrating that choice. It was not an easy choice by our standards, but it was the only real choice.
Points to Ponder:
Are you faced with choices?
What would Jesus Do?
