bible blog post Monday June 29th

Tearing Down The House (Acts 19:1-20)

Years ago we had a customer with one of the most severe toxic mold issues in their basement, the foundation of their home.  There was no way to eradicate it and the health of the family living in the house was at risk.  The mold filled the entire basement and the only way to get ride of it successfully, without worry that it was completely gone, was to get ride of the basement and build a new one.  Easier said than done!  That meant our customer had to do something drastic - they had to demolish their entire house in order to tear out the infested basement and build a new clean one that their new home could sit on safely.  It was a costly decision that they knew was needed and in the long run was best for their entire family.  I was reminded of this customers story when I read through Acts 19 today.

In Acts 19 we read about a group of people who were living life just fine, without any issues in their eye's (see last Monday's devotional).  But then they had an encounter that opened their eyes to the true nature, character, and power found in the name of Jesus Christ.  This encounter rocked their lives and opened their eyes to the filth of sin that had infected their hearts and the very foundations of their lives.  This revelation led them to not only confess to the sins that were infecting their lives but they sought to remove the very things that were leading them to sin.  This confession moved them to publicly destroy everything that caused them to sin in order to build a new heart, a new hope, a new foundation and live under the power and goodness of the name Jesus Christ.  The destruction of their sinful attachments had a tremendous financial cost to them but it was worth it to be living with clean hearts that were able to serve more effectively for the Lord.

So what about us?

Are we daily encountering the character and power of our Savior Jesus Christ?  Do we sit and reflect on who He truly is and the wonderment of the power and grace He not only holds but can enact on our behalf to help or to convict?  Do we recognized how severely imperfect and blemished we are in comparison to His goodness and righteousness and how that can affect the way we live our lives for Him?

Does this encounter reveal to us a need to confess?  Do we see in ourselves ways that we have not treated others as He has treated us?  Do we recognized that we lack the grace, mercy, forgiveness and love that has been shown to us when we didn't deserve it?  Are we truly wiling to take a long hard look at the ugly, moldy sins that have set up home in our hearts and confess them openly to the Lord so that healing, correction, or rebuilding can occur?

Are we using this confession as a catalyst to action?  Are we willing to truly walk the walk and not just talking the talk?  Are we willing to get ride of anything in our lives that God reveals as sinful or that leads us to sin?  Are we willing to surrender our jam packed agendas, our self centered desires, our hidden sinful longings, our hurts from others, our anger at others, our unforgiveness of others, our precious limited time, our gluttonous ways, our talk that tears others down, our gossip, our judgements, our wastefulness, our self indulgence, our discontent eyes, our greed, our electronics, our pleasures, our whatever it might be that causes us to let sin have a place in our lives and hearts, to have an audience in us along side the presence of our very powerful and awesome Savior Jesus Christ?

When the people of Acts 19 encountered the power of Jesus Christ it moved them to change, to seek right hearts so that they could live right lives.  Because of their willingness to destroy what was not "Christ like" it allowed them to build in themselves a new home for the Savior to live and "In this way the word of the LORD spread widely and grew in power" (Acts 19:20).  God's kingdom grows and His power spreads when we let go of anything sinful, anything not of him and let him have the rightful place in our hearts and lives.

Encounter the Lord daily, let Him reveal what you need to see, confess it and seek to remove anything that gives sins a foothold in your life.  Then you can rest assured that the power of the Lord is going to be at work through you as well as in you in mighty ways.