For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
A fool will defend his foolish acts with even greater ferocity than a mother bear will defend her cubs. Everyone does something foolish from time to time. However, those who are wise will not attempt to defend their foolishness. If you do evil to those who have done good to you, misfortune will follow you day in and day out.
Let us praise the Lord in all we say and do. If we are seeking to serve the Lord, let us praise His name as well. I know the greatness of the Lord. I have seen His mighty works with my own eyes. Every generation will learn the fame of our God. Those who worship anything other than God are oblivious to the evidence of their senses for the very world around us testifies to God’s greatness.
When Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, some of the Jewish believers criticized him for going into the home of a Gentile and eating with him. The passage suggests to me that the majority of the believers initially supported the criticism. However, Peter told them the story of why he had gone to Cornelius’ house. He explained how the Holy Spirit had guided him to do so. Further he told them of the outcome that came when he preached to Cornelius’ household. AND he pointed out the men who had witnessed his actions and the results of them. He did not ask the congregation of believers to accept just his word for what happened. He presented them with trusted witnesses to the event. When the believers heard Peter’s explanation about how the Spirit had worked, they stopped objecting and praised God. It is worth noting that in recounting this, Luke does not condemn those who initially criticized Peter for his actions. They would only have come in for condemnation if they had continued to criticize after hearing how the Holy Spirit had worked in this situation. Let us learn from their example and be willing to change when the Holy Spirit moves. But, let us make sure that we wait for the Holy Spirit.
In the account of the confrontation between Elijah and the priests of Baal it is important to remember that the priests of Baal had the power of numbers and the power of the government on their side. All Elijah had on his side was the power of God. While that meant that Elijah had the clear edge, it sure did not look that way when they met on the mountain. Elijah was clearly a bit of a showman here. But there was more to it than just showmanship. Elijah covered all of the excuses they might try to make for why Baal did not light the sacrifice on fire in a manner that made it clear that such explanations were ridiculous. The prophets of Baal were not going to repent, so Elijah focused his presentation to those who were not committed one way or the other. I have a bit (perhaps more than a bit) of the showman in me. I need to allow the Spirit to guide me to use that to spread the Gospel