In Acts of the Apostles this week are the accounts of the travels of the apostles to spread the “good news” to all the earth. They are preaching that ALL are saved through Christ Jesus, not just the Jews. The gentiles are very excited about this news and they are becoming Christians in droves. Some people misunderstood and were teaching, wrongly, that the gentiles had to “follow the law of Moses” or they couldn’t be saved. This is clarified in a letter and by the subsequent visit of the apostles Judas, Silas, Paul and Barnabas to teach the truth. “This is what the Holy Spirit has taught us: don’t eat food that has been offered to false gods, and keep yourselves pure. If you do this, you will be doing what is right.” A lot of people believed, wrongly, that salvation was only for the Jews. This, and many other letters and accounts of the Acts of the Apostles teach us that salvation is for ALL. Think about that…salvation through Christ Jesus is for ALL. If Jesus died for ALL, then you cannot exclude anyone. Every man, woman and child on planet earth is a child of God and inherits the promises of Christ Jesus.
Jesus leaves us with a wonderful promise and loving words. He is going to prepare a place for us, and he will return to take us with him. “If you love me, you will obey my words and do as I have said.” He sends his holy spirit to teach us and to help us. He leaves us his peace, His well being. “I leave you my peace. The peace I give you is not like the peace that the world gives, so don’t be afraid. Let your hearts be at peace.” And his promise to return, “I told you that I am leaving, but I will come back to you.” These words elicit feelings within us when we read them. The feelings are love, joy and adoration. We want to do the right thing, don’t we? We want to do as Jesus asks us because, YES, we love him! Just as children really want to do as their mother or father asks because when they do the right thing they feel very good inside and they know that they are pleasing to their parents. Children also know that their parents will love them even when they make a mistake. They are forgiven. A parent’s love is unconditional. This relationship is exactly like our relationship with God. Our hearts and our minds know how to do right but sometimes our human nature, our weakness, leads us in the wrong direction instead. The Holy Spirit inspires us to do good things! The Holy Spirit is in us and helps us. We want to do good things, it is our natural instinct. How do we foster our instincts to do good? Do we listen to that little voice inside us that tries to guide us in the right direction, or ignore it? When we step off the right path, do we not run back to it and try again and again to stay on that path? We are drawn to the Lord and our desire to be closer to Him is part of our being. We will keep trying to get nearer to God and to do that we try to please God. Think of some ways to get closer to God. Do those things. Help someone who needs help. Feed someone who is hungry. Clothe someone who is without clothing. Care for the sick; comfort the lonely and sad. Pray for the world. “Love one another as I have loved you.”
The Psalm this week is Psalm 67: O God, Let All the Nations Praise You. On Matt’s music site the second entry in the blog is for this Psalm and the “demo” plays automatically or you can navigate to it by clicking on “demo”. The “lead sheet” will give you the written music and words to the Psalm.
God Bless you.