Free Daily Devotional

THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2022

TEXT: Acts 15:1-11

1. Then some men came down from Judea and started to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Law of Moses, you can’t be saved.”

2. Paul and Barnabas had quite a dispute and argument with them. So Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question.

3. They were sent on their way by the church, and as they were going through Phoenicia and Samaria they told of the conversion of the gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers.

4. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported everything that God had done through them.

5. But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The gentiles must be circumcised and ordered to keep the Law of Moses.”

6. So the apostles and the elders met to look into this claim.

7. After a lengthy debate, Peter stood up and told them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days, God chose me to be the one among you through whom the gentiles would hear the message of the gospel and believe.

8. God, who knows everyone’s heart, showed them he approved by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.

9. He made no distinction between them and us, because of their faith-cleansed hearts.

10. So why do you test God by putting on the disciple’s neck a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we could carry?

11. We certainly believe that it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, that we are saved, just as they are.”

(International Standard Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: DON’T PUT BURDENS ON OTHERS

Margaret said she believed that the Bible is against wearing wedding rings, earrings, necklaces and any other ornaments.

Therefore, she only relates with those who share the same belief and considers those who do otherwise as disobedient sinners.

Paul warns that we must be weary of those who preach gospels that are not rooted in the Bible. He started that nobody should be compelled to observe the Law in order to have salvation because nobody can be saved by merely observing the Law.

When your fellowship is full of laws, you may be putting burdens on people. And that may take them out.

QUESTION: What kinds of laws do you permit in your fellowship group?

PRAYER: Help us, dear Lord, to do away with laws that place burdens on the people, Amen.