Daily Devotion February 5

February 5: Acts 7:51-53

KJV Key Verse: Acts 7:51
"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

Devotion:
How much do we get caught up in the letter of the law and how much do we leave common sense behind in those cases? A lot, really! It always seems much safer for us to cling to something written down than to dig down to the actual reason or the true meaning behind things. Why should we get all stressed or upset trying to find out the truth when we can just take someone else’s word for it and go with the flow? That is what it boils down to…

This is common to many people and is a common thread throughout the bible too; it’s not just us! Mankind has always been looking for a shortcut or an easy way out. When we should be giving in and doing what is right, it is often much easier for us to agree with someone we know is wrong just to make life easy. What we do not think about is the longer lasting effects of our dealings. When we choose the wrong path we make a whole lot of changes to our life and we have to cope with all those changes at the same time. That is not so easy!

God has given us direction in the beginning and we should be doing what we can to follow that direction. What we should not be doing is redefining the direction to suit our own needs. As time goes by we change a bit here and a bit there, eventually ending up with a set of rules that do not quite match up with the set God gave us in the beginning. It may be hard to admit an error, take a step back and have another go; but we really do need to do that sometimes!

The Holy Spirit is here with us to help us to make the right decisions and to keep on the correct path. If we listen carefully we will hear the directions and when we obey we find the right path. But with all the noise in the world around us we don’t tend to listen as we should, nor do we obey as we should. Thankfully God is patient with us and continues to allow the Holy Spirit to work with us until we do eventually listen – but we need to make that choice to listen!

Points to Ponder:
Are you a good listener?

Do you act on what you hear?