Saturday 24 May 2014

May 24: Acts 17:29-31

Key Verse: Acts 17:30
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent

Devotion:
When Paul saw the people of Athens had erected an object of worship to the unknown God he jumped at the opportunity to tell them about Jesus Christ. How often do we jump at the chance when we see a small crack or hint of anything that we can use to reach out to people? What he did was to tell them that all their idols and other gods that they were worshipping were false and all in vain; a brave step for anyone!

It is no use allowing people to build up false hopes when you have the chance of telling them the truth and opening the Gospel to them. Allowing people to strengthen their own false hopes is as good as telling them lies. How we go about doing that is what we need God’s help with. If we bashed them over the head with the truth and belittled them for believing false things we may well alienate them from the truth instead of opening their eyes. If we just brushed over it then they would discount what we had to say and continue on in their own false hopes.

What we need to do is to build people up with encouragement and invite them in to share the truth with us. If they can see that we firmly believe in what we are talking about then they will be more willing to listen to what we have to say. Jesus would always open people’s eyes to new things by explaining the truth in terms they could understand. We need to follow on from His example and to do that we really do need The Holy Spirit as our guide.

There is going to be a time when all people will face Christ in judgment and we must not cover up that truth. We need them to know that it is Christ who will be the judge and not any man, especially not us. We are human just as they are and we make mistakes as well. God is just and will uphold the truth for all eternity, there is no escaping that and people need to know that. Open up the Gospel today, but do it with compassion just as Christ has shown us grace.

Points to Ponder:
Do you tell others about Christ?

Do you show others grace and mercy?