Today’s reading is Acts 27:1-28:31.

“But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for th eland, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land” (Acts 27:43-44).

That is phenomenal. 276 people in a shipwreck and every single one survived. Boy they sure were lucky to have all that flotsam and jetsam to help them get to land. I can’t help but remember Acts 27:24. “God has granted you all those who sail with you.” God did this. What intrigues me is trying to actually find God in the saving. What did He do exactly? I don’t know. Did he give those who could swim extra strength? Did He do it miraculously or had He prepared them for this moment all their lives so they would have the right amount of strength? Did he provide the flotsam at just the right place?

I just don’t know the answer to these questions. All I know is God was working. God did the saving. I may not be able to see God working in my life today. But I can take comfort that He is. Since that is the case, I think I can keep working too (cf. Philippians 2:12-13).

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 25:1-26:32.

“They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers” (Acts 26:7).

What a turn around for Paul. For a long time his hope was in his ability to live according to the strictest party of his religion. However, on this day, he was on trial because his hope had changed. No longer was his hope in himself. No longer was it in his religious party. No longer was it in keeping the law. His hope was in God’s promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ, the resurrected Savior.

Where is my hope today? In me? In my church? In keeping God’s law? Or is it in the promise of Jesus Christ? When it is in Jesus Christ, what will that look like in my life? Today, I need to put my hope in the resurrected Savior and live like that is where my hope is.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 23:1-24:27.

“And looking intently at the council, Paul said, ‘Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day’” (Acts 23:1).

How important this is. I understand this is Paul’s defense of his whole life. I also understand that our conscience can be wrong as Paul’s conscience allowed him persecute Christians at one time. But this verse reminds me of something I have learned. I have to live with a good conscience (cf. I Timothy 1:5), not simply because God requires it. Rather, I’ve learned that when I’m living in violation of my conscience, it sets up a dreadful cycle.

I violate my conscience. Even though I try to cover it up on the outside, my inside is in disparity. I may not even consciously know what is wrong, but something isn’t right on the inside. It is like a splinter is festering in my heart. There is pain, discomfort, depression, perhaps despair. Wanting to get rid of these feelings, but not wanting to face what is really going on inside, more sin becomes appealling to try to numb the pain I’m feeling. I sin. Having gone against my conscience again, the process continues in a downward spiral.

The only solution I’ve found is to face the reality of my actions. Confess my wrong to God and to another person, making amends with whomever I sinned against and then surrender my life and actions to God. God can and will purify my conscience. If I don’t have that good conscience, I’ve learned I’ll be a in a world of hurt. Today, I’m going to work on living with a good conscience before God.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 21:1-22:30.

“When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, ‘Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place!’” (Acts 21:27-28).

None of this was true. The crowds believed it, no doubt. But it simply wasn’t true. The fact is, no matter how I live, some folks will attribute the wrongs motives, the wrong attitudes, even the wrong actions to me. But who had the problem here. Was it Paul? No. It was the crowd. This was not an issue between Paul and the crowds, this was an issue between the crowds and God.

Here’s the kicker for me. My job today is to do the next right thing. My job today is to do what is right because it is right in order to glorify God. It is not my job to manage everyone else’s thoughts and feelings about me (don’t misunderstand, when i’m doing what is right because it is right in order to glorify God, I’m not walking all over other people and their feelings). The truth is, if I am doing what is wrong but have put off a persona that makes everyone think great things about me, it doesn’t change that I did wrong. In the same way, if I’m doing what is right, but someone else thinks wrong of me, that is their problem. I don’t have to go around fixing everyone’s views of me. I simply need to do what is right.

What a great example from Paul.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 19:1-20:38.

“Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver” (Acts 19:18-19).

A friend of mine once told me that when you want to change the way you play the game of life, you have to change three things: your playground, your playmates, and your playthings. If nothing ever changes about my life, well then, nothing ever changes. If I want to bring my anger under control, then I have to make some changes. Am I listening to music that gets me angry, watching shows, or even the news that keeps me stressed? I need to burn those things. Do I want to change my eating habits? Then maybe I need to change which restaurants I frequent. Am I trying to quit drugs or drinking? Then I need to not only dump out my stash but also the paraphernalia that went along with it and develop new relationships with those who aren’t involved in that life.

This is not always a matter of getting rid of stuff we can prove is sinful. I’m not sure it was absolutely sinful for these folks to own these books. In fact, it doesn’t say everyone did this, only a number of them did. In like manner, I’m not saying everyone has to get rid of everything I mentioned above. However, if something is my stumbling area and I want to change my life, I need to learn to burn everything that will lead me back down that path. I don’t do that because that is God’s requirement for repentance. I do that because if I try to change the way I play but I keep frequenting the same playgrounds, with the same playmates, hanging on to the same playthings, I won’t change. And I desperately want to change.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 17:1-18:28.

“Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak, boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:24-26).

Being eloquent doesn’t mean I’m always right. Just because I can put words together well and make my position sound good, doesn’t mean I’m right. Just because I’m competent in the Scriptures, doesn’t mean I’m always right. Just because I’ve received good teaching doesn’t mean I’m always right. Just because I’m fervent doesn’t mean I’m always right. Just because I’m right some of the time doesn’t mean I’m always right.

I hope I can take the correction of those who know the will of God on some issue better than me as well as Apollos did. But it is so easy to get defensive if someone questions whether or not I’m right. I don’t know if Apollos was defensive at all, but it appears in the end, he came around to the truth on this baptism issue. I hope I do so well when someone corrects me with truth.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS: What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 15:1-16:40.

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).

And here I am afraid or ashamed to sing and pray in front of people brought up in the Bible belt. There is no embarrassment, no shame, no fear. Just complete and total trust in the Lord. And that led to a new brother in Christ. I wonder what might happen if I refused to be ashamed and therefore sang hymns to God and even prayed where people could hear me. I’m not saying that I try to barge into people’s lives and be an annoyance with my spirituality. I’m definitely not suggesting I should take a “look how spiritual I am” approach. In fact, I don’t even think this was a calculated attempt at evangelism. It was just what they needed to do at the time and they didn’t have a problem with letting others overhear. If I could drop my guard and quit worrying about what people think of me, I might actually let something spiritual slip in front of someone who ends up wanting to respond to the Lord too.

As a friend of mine says, “It’s really none of my business what people think of me.” If they think I’m weird for praising the Lord, so be it. But what if they think, “Man, I wish I had what he has”?

Guess I better tune up my voice, I feel a song coming on.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS: What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 13:1-14:28.

“…strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Paul didn’t say tribulations come with the kingdom of God. He didn’t say tribulations happen to coincide with entering the kingdom of God. He actually said we enter the kingdom of God through tribulations. In other words, if there are no tribulations we won’t get into the kingdom of God.

Too often, I have the mindset that since I’m entering the kingdom, I shouldn’t have tribulations. Why isn’t God taking better care of me? Then I read this and learn that God actually knows better. In some way, the tribulations prepare me for the kingdom and usher me into it. If God took my tribulations away, then I wouldn’t enter the kingdom.

This is what Paul says in Romans 5:3-5. Suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character. Character produces hope. Hope doesn’t put us to shame. But without suffering and tribulation, there is no endurance, no character, no hope.

Thank you, God, for not giving me everything I want, but instead giving me what I need.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 11:1-12:25.

“And the people were shouting, ‘The voice of a god, and not of a man!’ Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last” (Acts 12:22-23).

Yikes! What a warning. Don’t misunderstand. I’m pretty sure if I were preaching and someone started shouting these words, I would know well enough to correct them. But in my day-to-day life, I can easily violate this same principle.

Most of my worrying comes from the egomaniacal thought that somehow I’m in control and I can fix everything. I see things going on with other people and think that I’m the one who get fix them and get them straight. I can sometimes think that I’m the one necessary to make the church grow. Do you see what all of this has in common? Far too often, I have the subconscious idea that I can do God’s job. Edwin Almighty!

Today is a day in which I need to be still and know that He is God…and I am not. He is the one that is allowing me to breathe today. He is the one by whom I’m moving today. He is the one that has granted me relationships today. He is the one providing me victories today. He is the one carrying me through my failures today. I must give God the glory because my voice is that of a man and not a god.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 9:1-10:48.

“And he said to them, ‘You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean’” (Acts 10:28).

I should not call any person common of unclean. It doesn’t matter if they are black or white, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, employee or employer, upper or lower class, southern or northern, Democrat or Republican, whatever or whatever else.

It doesn’t matter if their hair is painted green, if their pants are hanging low, if they have tattooes or nose rings. It doesn’t matter what they have done. They may have been idolaters, coveters, adulterers, or homosexuals.

Peter’s statement is not saying the person is holy. They need to be in Christ for that. The point is I must not believe that somehow I’m so good and someone else so bad that he can defile me by simply being near me. The point is I must not look down on anyone as if they cannot be saved by the blood of Jesus. I must not look down on anyone as if they need to be saved more than I do. I must not look down on anyone as if they are so bad I must not share the freeing message of Jesus with them.

I am so glad Peter learned this lesson, since I am a Gentile and not Jewish. I would be upset if anyone viewed me as common or unclean. I must not do the same for others.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?