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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Saturday, February 14, 2004 Love of the Light |
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Frontline Devotion for
Saturday, February 14, 2004, by Catherine Singelsether
Bible text: Acts
21:37-22:16
In today’s text Paul is speaking to the Jewish people about his conversion,
trying to make a connection with them in order to minister to them. He’s very
open with them, laying himself bare about where he was before and the
enlightenment that led to his becoming a Christian. He’s putting himself on the
line. He tries to make them also open to the light that saved Him. He tries to
set them straight about their religion, that Jesus really was the Messiah. He
himself is a light trying to get others to come to Jesus’ light. Paul had
incredible courage and was such a faithful disciple. He denied fear for the love
of Christ. We all know the valor he showed in the suffering he endured for the
gospel, how much work he made in securing that cornerstone for the early church. I wonder what was going through Paul’s mind as he spoke to them that day. He
certainly hadn’t written a speech beforehand. He spoke from his heart, and with
zeal and passion for the unsaved.
Paul had recognized his ignorance before about his wanton persecution of the
beloved. Now he’d tried to make things right, atoning for his actions. Like
Paul, we too put ourselves on the line as Christians. In many things we do, day
after day, we deny the world in order to honor Christ. We try to acknowledge his
light. So what is Christ’s light and how do we truly say we’ve devoted ourselves
to him. The early disciples made so many sacrifices for us so that Christianity
could be where it is today. Many of them left their families and trades behind. They certainly must’ve had a good handle on what that gospel was worth. That
must have been so difficult for them, having to risk what consequences it would
have on their family as Christians were viewed as outcasts.
What was viewed as trash by the world, became gold for them and gold for us
today as believers. The lesson today is that honoring Christ requires sacrifice.
Sometimes they are of great cost. But what God can give us in return, is gold
and of far more value than human estimates of worth. To honor Christ sometimes
we have to step outside ourselves and try to find ourselves through him as the
disciples did in their incredible journey. In the end, what we discover is far
more than we can imagine.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY: Precious Lord, thank you for being in our lives. Please give us a greater
awareness of your presence and value so that we don’t blindly serve you. Let us
all be good vessels of your light so that you may be glorified. Thank you. Amen.
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