The Right Thing to Do

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

THE RIGHT THING TO DO

Acts 8:25

25 When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

NIV

This is just a short break in the action, a pause between all the activity that had gone on in that Samaritan city where Phillip was and all the new believers, including Simon and everyone being filled with the Spirit, and Simon trying to buy the power, and all the rest of the preaching, and laying on of hands. All in all a pretty exciting time. But now they have left that city and are on their way back to Jerusalem, so a break in the action, but not really. Although they are on the way from one place to another, they continue to preach the Gospel along the way, in each city they pass through on their way to their destination. There is a life lesson for us within what seems to be just a little comment about their conclusion of activity and travel back home. Sometimes we can get so focused on where we are going we do not see the need of those who do not know Christ yet. Peter and John could have been so excited about what had happened in that city, they wanted to hurry back to Jerusalem to tell all the other believers the exciting news, overlooking all the rest of those Samaritan people who needed to know Jesus. Our lives can become so busy with doing our thing, that we are not seeing the people who need Jesus. We can be about a lot of activities, even good ones, good deeds within the community, and we hurry back so we tell other believers what we are doing, but are we preaching the Gospel to those we meet alone the way. We even ministry to one another, engaging in one on one fellowship, small group fellowship, church fellowship, but on our way, do we stop along the way and minister to those who need to hear the Gospel? It is a good thing to have direction, a path to walk, a purpose in life, to travel the road with Jesus, going to the place he is leading us, but if we are missing the people who need to meet Jesus as we travel, we are missing out on so much. Peter and John did not miss an opportunity to share the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ, everywhere they went, even when they were on their way to a specific place. We do not know how long it took them to get home, and how much time they spent in each city they traveled through, but they were meeting people along the way, telling them about Jesus, the most important part of being a believer. It is great to be doing all the right things, living a holy life, resisting temptations or at least pretending to in front of the rest of the believers, attending church, even tithing and giving, and serving in some ministry, but if we are not meeting people along the way in our life, people who do not know Jesus and telling them about him, we might not be doing the right thing after all. Peter and John had great responsibilities back in Jerusalem but their greatest responsibility was to share the Gospel with those who needed to hear it. That is the not the next right thing, or next right step, it is the right thing.