Daily devotion – thankful
Saved and rejoicing in it!
Peter and John were off to the Temple to pray as was their habit and there at the entrance of the Temple lay a man, lame from birth, who was carried each day to this exact spot to beg for alms.
Most of you know the rest of the story as Peter prays for this man and he is healed. – Acts 3: 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.
This man on both his healing and his salvation reacted in a way I just love to see. That is when a person comes to Christ they rejoice in the fact of their relationship with God. I love seeing people come to Christ at Church and who have that radiant countenance that reflects a heart truly forgiven and saved.
But sadly today, many Church attending people have the radiance of a mortician. Where has the actual thankfulness of being saved, of recognising that the Son of God suffered and died for them and the realisation that this is the greatest thing that has happened in their life, gone?
The problem is that the Church has been infiltrated with the selfishness of the world and a consumerism attitude that exists on a one-way traffic of being pleased. The Apostle Paul told us that this would be a sign of the Last Days – 2 Timothy 3: 1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away.
“lovers of themselves…disobedient to parents…unthankful…unloving…without self-control…despisers of good….headstrong…having a form of godliness….”
A man was on a business trip and visiting a new town. As he headed out from the hotel where he was staying, he decided to ask the local mounted police officer if he could recommend a Church to attend. The officer, was not a Church goer himself, but he responded to the man thus, “If I was going to go to a Church I would go to the one just down the way a little where the people enter it happy and come out happy…”
Jesus in His first letter to the Church of Ephesus in the Book of Revelation admonished this busy, labouring, working, patient and theologically correct Church, for having left its first love – that is their love for the Lord!
I purposely spend time with those who love the Lord with a joy that truly reflects their relationship with God. Why, because they just are such a blessing and refreshing to be with.
Let each of us guard that we don’t start loving ourselves, become unthankful, lose control and pretend to be a Christian. Let us love the Lord God with all our heart mind and strength and we too will be just like that man in the book of Acts…walking and leaping and praising God!
It’s the only way to live!