However “nice” my outward life may be, when I measure my heart (my thoughts, attitudes, and intentions) against Jesus’ teaching, I am ashamed. His teaching disturbs me greatly, if I have any self-honesty. But that is why I need to listen!
If the congregation we’ve been a part of is not faithful to Christ, we need to worship elsewhere. But even if we’re surrounded by others who are faithful to Christ, the more important question is still about our own responsibilities before the Lord.
We want the “way of God” (Acts 18:26). The path that leads to God — the one He has laid out — will often seem narrow and illogical to us (Matthew 7:13,14). But that doesn’t matter. It only matters whether it is, in fact, “the Way” (Acts 24:14).
The great emphasis in Acts 2 is on the content of the preaching. We would seriously fail in our appreciation of this text if we were so amazed by the signs and wonders that we didn’t pay attention to the message the signs were pointing to.
The truth is, we can’t help ourselves where we need help the most. Yes, we can “science” our way out of some of life’s lesser problems, but the potential of human self-help is limited. We do not have it within us to solve the problem of sin.
God’s way often goes against our opinions, and eventually the honest person will have to admit, “Well, I didn’t think such a plan would work, but I was wrong. Although I would have set things up differently, God’s way turned out to be the best.”
Our sinful past will try to pull us back — and sometimes the pull can be very strong. We wouldn’t have been what we used to be if there weren’t some very pleasant aspects of being that kind of person. So we must choose between the old and the new!
The more we learn to love our Father, the more our hearts are going to hurt when we realize we’ve failed Him. The person who rarely sees any sin in his own life — or seeing it, is not bothered by it — is not a spiritual senior but only a sophomore.
“Nominal” Christians are Christians in “name only.” They are the modern embodiment of the mentality God spoke of in Isaiah’s day: “[They] draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).
God will help us and discipline us (Hebrews 12:5-11). But having been disciplined by God, we will have to discipline ourselves. We will have to exert ourselves to go uphill rather than downhill, doing a good deal more than what comes “naturally.”
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