Source: Benjamin A. Peterson/Mother Image/mother image/Fuse / Getty
Day #4
Critical Decisions
Today’s passage takes place after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Freshly filled with the presence of the Spirit, Peter stood up and preached the first evangelical message of the church.
Peter’s audience listened as he proclaimed the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the new life that comes by faith in Him. At the conclusion of his message, the people responded. As the crowd heard the truth of the gospel, they came to a point on conviction. They realized that they had to do something. God’s message called for their decision.
God constantly speaking to us. He wants to talk to us about our lives, our relationships and our attitudes. He is eager for us to understand what He wants us to do.
As He speaks truth to us, whether it is through our personal Bible Study, through times of meditation on His Word or through hearing someone teach us His Word, God is interested in our response. He is watching and waiting to see what we will do with what we hear.
When we hear His truth, there are several basic choices we can make. We can choose to obey what we’ve heard, ignore what He has said to us, totally reject His input, or put off our response to another time.
While anything other than immediate obedience is unwise, it is this tendency to procrastinate our response to God’s word that deserves some special reflection today. Perhaps a story will illustrate this point.
The great preacher, D. L. Moody, was preaching in Chicago an October night in 1871. He concluded his message by saying, “Go home and consider this week what to do with Christ. Next week come back and tell me what you have decided.” That night a fire destroyed most of Chicago and this group of people never gathered again. Many of the people who heard the Gospel that night never saw the next sunrise. After that experience, Mr. Moody never concluded a sermon without giving people an opportunity to make a decision for Christ. He never offered them an opportunity to procrastinate their response to God’s Word.
Postponing spiritual decisions can be very dangerous. When we refuse to respond to God in the moment, we place ourselves in spiritual jeopardy of missing His best. We open the door for the adversary to come and steel away God’s blessing.
Acts 2:37-38 Now when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, What should we do, brothers?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Source: Back to the Bible https://www.church-redeemer.org
