WE SHALL NOT DIE - Reading With the People of God #17নমুনা

Together in Christ

The passage for this week talks about one of Paul's experiences in sharing the gospel. I feel like this may seem too far out of reach, as if this couldn’t happen to us in this day and age. But the problem it speaks about is still a part of our world; we choose who we talk to, we choose who we share the gospel with, and we choose what to do with the gospel Christ has given us.

The Bible is clear. Matthew 28:19 ESV says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. In our passage in Acts, it makes no distinction: ”all nations”. In the passage, Peter baptizes them in the Spirit and then says to his friends, “If then God gave the same gift to them as He gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” (v. 17 ESV). We are not the ones to make the choice of who can and should be saved.

I remember speaking to a youth who was very angry about something someone had done to him and was wanting to get back at him in retaliation. I spoke to the student and told him, as Christians, how we are called to love everyone equally, even if they choose not to do the same. I don’t know if he fully understood or even listened, but that is what we are called to do; be different, be Christ-like, and show the love of Jesus to each and every person we come across in our actions and in the way we love one another. Jesus even says in John 13:35 ”By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (ESV). So I encourage you to seek out those who may be different from you, or maybe you dislike and share with them the same love Christ has given to us.

Primer contributed by Andrew Simon