Devoted

This week's blog was written by Cole Harmon

Text: Acts 2:42-47 (ESV)

When people read Acts, something happens. It’s really hard not to be inspired by, and even jealous of the early Christians. Early on in the book the reader might think it must have been so easy to be them. Wouldn’t Christianity be so easy if we could just prove God’s existence with miracles and wonders without limit?  We might think to ourselves if God equips us like he equipped the apostles this whole thing would be a breeze! I want you to take a look at the circumstances facing the early church, and then your own.   

Daily they faced severe persecution. Getting beaten to a pulp, facing hunger, Death, stoning, demons, prison and a host of other obstacles were all in a days work for the Apostles. What is your worst fear? What is the worst possible thing that could happen if you took the gospel to the streets? People would look at you like you have tentacles coming out of your mouth sure, but would they hit you? Would they throw you in jail? Would they kill you?

My question is why aren’t we sharing the gospel with everyone we know? Is it just me, or is forgiveness and salvation from an eternity of death worth talking about? How about the fact that Jesus can heal us of any and all afflictions? How about becoming a child, friend and heir of the almighty infinite God of the universe?  How about an eternity in the uninhibited presence of an unfathomably loving and holy God? Does ANY of this seem important? Then why oh why do we leave it in the walls of the church? Why do we nod our heads, sing songs, confess our undying love and then go home where we barely manage to read his love letter to us? I think the problem we face is complicated. 

The key word in Acts 2:42 is DEVOTED. I may say I’m devoted, but if my life has little to no indication of this, am I devoted? What does it mean to be devoted? It means standing your ground when people mistreat you. It means suffering through people’s name calling, and their hatred because HE suffered first. It means reading our bibles. My goal here is not to tell everyone that they suck. I think we all completely understand how short we fall. Acts is an inspiration, but seeing those great men of faith compared to our faithlessness can be overwhelming and discouraging. I want to find the solution. HOW do we become devoted? How do we get sold out for Jesus? How to we get radical, earth shattering, mountain-moving faith? Devotion. How do we get devoted? Is it by trying our hardest, going all out, and doing as many good things as we can? Nope, because these things flow from true devotion. 

The secret to getting radically devoted is to fall in love with the resurrected Christ, by ENCOUNTERING him. He is so glorious that one glimpse is all you need to go from cowardly fisherman to fearless proclaimer. The love part will take care of itself. You do have a part though! The way to we experience him and get DEVOTED is by getting off our butts and seeking him as if it were our last hour EVERY hour. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. Seek him, and he will find you. It’s time to get devoted. There is a world out there that needs him, he will equip us for everything we’ll ever need if we SEEK him.