Wash Me Oh Lord With Daily Devotions

TUESDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER 2023

TEXT: Acts 15:1-11

1: Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

2: This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

3: The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad.

4: When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

5: Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

6: The apostles and elders met to consider this question.

7: After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

8: God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.

9: He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

10: Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

11: No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

(New International Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: A YOKE DIFFICULT TO BEAR

Our levels of faith an maturity in the Lord differ. We have the same Bible and constitution but the way we read and understand them are not the same.

Today's passage takes us to the presentation of the same Gospel to people of diverse cultures with a particular culture desiring to see things done in its own way.

Viewing issues of the heart through faith should be the ultimate concern of the Church.

The most important task is to see ourselves through the eye of God's grace in Jesus; the grace that makes us what we are.

QUESTION: How are you influencing your fellow believers through your position?

PRAYER: Father, Your grace that is greater than all my sins is what makes me who I am in You. Stop me from forcing my personal perceptions on others but influence them through what You say in Your Word. Amen.