Today's Devotional
October 5, 2004
Subject: Scared Straight
Acts 5:10 - "Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch."
Acts 5:14 - "And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)"
What really motivates us? What really brings about change in our lives? What causes us to stop playing around with sin and to take God seriously? If you haven't guessed it yet, the answer is FEAR!!!
As a child playing around in the backseat of the car while dad was driving, it wasn't until he made the ultimate threat of the "whuppin when you get home" that I finally realized that I needed to stop doing what I was doing. That was the epitome of fear for my little 60 or 70 pound frame in comparison to my 230 pound, 6 foot 3 inch dad. It was quite frightening. However, it caused in change in behavior to bring me in line with a standard of conduct.
Ananias and Sapphira have one of those stories too. However in this story, they became examples for the rest of the church. Because they actually lied to God, they were both killed. The church was a clear witness to the matter and the verses that follow identify that "great fear came upon all the church." Sometimes that's what it takes because as you see after that, many signs and wonders were wrought among the people and believers were more added to the Lord. Uhmm, nothing like a little motivation.
Today, let's be willing to heed God's word and live in His holiness without making Him "whup" us. Of course He loves us to much to let us stay the same so He will do it when necessary, but in reality, if you remember a time if your life when God rescued you before, you should already be scared straight.
Carlen