Work to Pay the Bills; Live for Jesus
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Acts 13:26-27, 30-41
26. "Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. 27. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him. . . . 30. But God raised him from the dead; 31. and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 32. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33. this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, `Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee.' 34. And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he spoke in this way, `I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.' 35. Therefore he says also in another psalm, `Thou wilt not let thy Holy One see corruption.' 36. For David, after he had served the counsel of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption; 37. but he whom God raised up saw no corruption. 38. Let it be known to you therefore, brethren, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39. and by him every one that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. 40. Beware, therefore, lest there come upon you what is said in the prophets: 41. `Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I do a deed in your days, a deed you will never believe, if one declares it to you.'"
Through this preaching Paul establishes Jesus as an historical figure, a fulfillment of the prophets, and as a redeemer to all people—all—whether you are a Jew or not. Paul doesn’t hesitate to point out, either, he has taken the message to the Gentiles intentionally. The Jews were getting bogged down in Mosaic Law, and the religious leaders didn’t like the fact the Paul, and his companion Barnabas were continuing the work Christ had begun in them.
Jesus has God’s divine blessing—and many saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus! They still have a fire in their bellies! They’re still excited and awed at being party to such an indescribable event—it was a blessing to them of the highest order! And it fueled their faith even still. And that is why they would not and could not hide and cower and sneak around to spread their message. It was too important! Everyone must hear the Good News! In Rick Warren’s book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” he shares the story of sitting at his father’s deathbed, and at the end he became pretty incoherent. But some of his last words, which no doubt helped to form Warren into the man he is today were, “One more soul for Jesus.” That must be how Paul felt!
Paul, Barnabas and the others had a great sense of urgency, too, because they believed that Jesus was returning imminently! The must have felt, "It might be tomorrow—certainly in our life time—so we need to work fast. We need to put in long hours and convert as many as possible, because we don’t have long!" They didn’t even fear death because they knew they would be Jesus again—and very soon! Well, over the years, we’ve kind of lost our sense of urgency, haven’t we? Isn’t our faith something “extra” in our lives? Don’t we treat our faith life like we do our work life and our life as a parent, a spouse, a child, a friend? And besides, everybody knows Jesus isn’t coming today! It’ll be in a thousand years, or 10,000! I still have time—when my kids are older, when my job is less hectic, when I retire, when . . . if . . . but . . . someday . . . Believe me—I get it! I do it! Guilty as charged!
So I’m begging you to join me today, right now, to change your focus. Make your faith first. Commit to make every decision based on your faith. Work to pay the bills, but live for Jesus. Make your faith life the center of your life. I make that decision 100 times a day some days! But I keep making it in the hope that one time it’s going to stick! Because I don’t want to be included as a scoffer and perish! I want to join Christ in Heaven one day. Because I do believe the deed that was unbelievable really did happen!
I pray today you make your faith life the only life you live—everything else will fall into place. And that you declare that God raised Jesus from the dead for absolutely everyone, if we’ll only say. “I believe.!
Mary
