March 23: Acts 3 17-23

Key Verse: Acts 3 18
But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.

Devotion:
Even though we read of various places where God was very upset with the people of Israel and we read of the terrible things which happened to them – most of that is part of life, but God was always there and always listening! He knows many of the people acted out of ignorance, not knowing what they should be doing and not knowing the long-term effects of what they were doing then – but God was still there with them, listening and waiting!

God knew what had to be done in order to free these people, to free us, from the sin traps we were and still are caught up in. He knew He had to do something drastic which would even seem barbaric to some, but it was the only way people could be set free from their lives of sin!

We have now seen what God has done, what He has allowed His Son to go through on our behalf… so what are we doing about it? Are we going to continue to ignore the truth and the things God has done, or are we going to stop in our tracks and ask for forgiveness? That is all we need to do – we just have to take a moment out of our busy lives and ask God to forgive us for the lives we have been living and for the things we have done wrong against Him.

He has promised to forgive us. He has promised to accept us into Heaven – as long as we come to Him and ask for forgiveness. We have so much written down for us which makes it virtually impossible for us to ignore the truth and carry on in our old ways. We need to turn to God and allow Him to fulfil His promise to us; a promise which was made right at the beginning and one which has always stood no matter what mankind got up to. God wants to restore everything in its proper place and wants us to join Him in this restored place. Who will listen?

Points to Ponder:
Do you get too caught up in life to go to church?

God makes ways we can still enjoy church, even during times like this?