July 8 devotional

Scripture

Acts 26: 20 “I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must turn from their sins and turn to
God- and prove they have changed by the good things they do.”

Observation

Have you every read one of those “Dummies” books. I once read “success for dummies.” I thought I needed all the help I could get. My kids once bought me “Golf for Dummies.” It didn’t help. These books are supposed to make the complicated simple, so anyone can do it. In our scripture this morning Paul takes the gospel and breaks it down and makes it simple. He said this is what I preach. Here is the gospel made simple. Paul preached:

1) You turn from your sins.

2) You turn to God.

3) You prove you have changed by the good things you do.

That is pretty simple and that is the gospel. That is what it means to be saved.

Application

Turning from your sins means turning from my old life. They way I used to think, talk, and act. It means to stop going to certain places and changing my life. Turning to God means that I begin to think like God thinks, talk like God talks, and living like God wants me to live. It is a complete turnaround. It is a complete change. One of the words to describe repentance is u-turn. I was going one direction in life but I did a complete turnaround. How do you know if you made this change? You do good deeds. You begin helping the hurting, feeding the hungry, giving to the needy, etc. Your actions are the evidence that you have changed. That is very simple and that is the message the Paul preached. Turn from your sins, turn to God, and do good deeds.

Prayer

Father I thank you for my salvation. I thank you that as a nine year old boy, you reached out to me and saved me. I am so grateful. Father, I want to completely turn from sin. I want there to be nothing in my life that is offensive to you. I want to be completely devoted to you and your cause. Today open doors for me to do good. I want to take advantage of every opportunity to help the hurting and needy. In Jesus name.