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 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?

Today’s reading is Acts 7:1-8:40.

“And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household” (Acts 7:9-10).

But that took 13 years (cf. Genesis 37:2; 41:46), over 1/3 of Joseph’s life to that time. Then it was at least another 7 years before seeing his family again. What were those 13 to 20 years like for Joseph? While enslaved did he wonder if God was with him? When his enslavement ended in imprisonment, did he begin to think that maybe God had forgotten him? I don’t know about him, but that is the kind of thinking I do. If my afflictions aren’t resolved in a matter of months, weeks, and even days, I begin to wonder what on earth God is doing up there in heaven.

I learn from Joseph that God is with me during my afflictions, not that God is with me if I’m kept out of affliction. Some afflictions may even last for quite some time. But I can trust God to see me through to the other side. If there is no great “victory” in this life, there will be eternal life in the next.

I can have confidence that whatever affliction I’m facing today, no matter how long it lingers with me, God is with me and He is stronger than the affliction. In His good time, He’ll get me through it to glory and victory on the other side.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 5:1-6:15.

“God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).

I’ve always known Jesus is my Savior. I always recognize that point. If I’m going to be forgiven of my sin, I need a Savior. I need Jesus.

However, I often lose sight of the other side of this. I don’t just need a Savior. I need a leader. Even if I’m going to repent and be forgiven, I need a leader. I need someone to guide me, direct me, lead me. I need someone in whose hands I can place my life who will tell me what to do and how to live. I need someone who will show me the path to follow.

That someone is Jesus. He is not only my Savior; He is my leader. Today, I don’t want to simply rest in His ability to save and forgive. I want to follow His lead.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 3:1-4:37.

“When they were released, they went to their friend and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them” (Acts 4:23).

It must have been a little frightening to be arrested for teaching about Jesus. They must have at least endured a little temptation to give up. What was the first thing they did? They went to their friends.

This is why choosing my friends is so important. I need to make sure that my best friends, the ones I’m going to lean on when trouble strikes, will support me in the right direction. If my best friends are in the world or, even as Christians, pursuing the flesh, when trouble strikes and temptation hits, the support I get won’t point me in the right direction. I need friends who are striving to walk by the Spirit who will lift me up and help me follow Christ even when I’m arrested for teaching in His name.

Praise God for the great friends I have who are walking by the Spirit, who can advise and pray with me. Of course, this means I have to do what these apostles did. I actually have to go to them when the trouble and temptation strikes instead of holding it on the inside.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?