Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Acts 14:11-18 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!"  Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.  The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.  But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. ...He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."  Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. When the people of Lystra saw the miracles that Paul performed, they were excited and they fully believed in them, but they didn't truly know and worship God.  They wanted to use their own ways and system to explain the miracles.  Superficially it looked like they accepted the evangelists, but in fact they rejected the gospel.  Many people who sought after God with a preconceived notion, so they only wanted to hear what they wanted to hear and do what they wanted to do, but they don't really want to obey God and follow Him.  They would bring wreaths to everything except to the true God.  Many also like to bring wreath to signs and wonders, just like people of Lystra.  They liked to watch miracles and welcomed those who performed the miracles, but they don't want the salvation and word of God. When Jesus was on earth, many people followed Him; when He performed the miracle of feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish, they wanted to install Him as the king.  Wasn't Jesus supposed to be the king of the world?  But the Bible told us that Jesus didn't hand Himself to these people because He knew they just wanted to be fed instead of seriously following Him.  Later on, when Jesus took on the path of suffering, these people couldn't follow Him anymore; some left Him and some even turned around and persecuted Him. Others, especially those who are educated, would bring wreaths to rationality; we like to fit God into our ideologies, as if we are greater than God.  We are not advocating being superstitious here, for our God is the most rational and logical being; however, the rationality of God should never be limited by the rationality of human beings.  The Bible says that God's wisdom is higher than our wisdom and God's way is higher than our way.  We must humble ourselves if we want to truly know God.     Pray with Pastor Tong Liu     Lord, please help us not to be like people of Lystra at that time, who would bring wreaths to many things.  May the light of the Holy Spirit shine upon us so that we can see the darkness and idols inside us, and may the Lord remove all of them so that we would simply turn back to our true God.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!