Not Difficult

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

NOT DIFFICULT

Acts 15:12-21

12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: 16 "'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17 that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things' 18 that have been known for ages.   19 "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."

NIV

Another large chunk of scripture, but it is all one thought, one statement of James that should not be broken up, or dissected. It does seem a little strange that James says on one hand they should not make it difficult for the Gentiles to turn to God, that is get circumcised,  but on the other hand he lays out what might be a more difficult set of rules they must follow. Which would be easier for them, to undergo, circumcision one time, or to follow all those rules for the rest of their lives? Of course we know that the truth of the whole aspect of circumcision is that it was to show us what it meant to be circumcised of the heart, not of the flesh, exposing the most sensitive portion of the body to God, our heart. Perhaps James still did not understand that principle yet, as we will see did the other Apostles as they agreed with him, imposing those rules upon the Gentiles, rules that were designed to prove to them that they could not keep them and thus needed Jesus. Yet it is true we have scriptures which outline proper and improper attitudes and behaviors for us to strive to live by today, which is in effect was the intent James had in mind for the Gentiles to strive for. There is absolutely nothing improper in encouraging others to live in a manner that pleases God. The Bible is full of those kind of teachings, but at the same time, the reason, the purpose of the whole of scripture is not to put a burden of rules and laws upon us, but to point us to Jesus. Although we endeavor to abide by the commandments of God, especially those ten, Jesus taught that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus spent far more time on how we are to interact with God and with each other than any set of rules to live by. This is not to say we should throw out all those commandments, those instructions for holy living, they are intended to keep us from living a life focused on self-pleasure, self-indulgence, self-gratification and denying God’s influence in our life. But still all that is somewhat meaningless unless we know Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. Focusing on the rules, without focusing on Jesus might leave us a little empty, lacking and wanting. But we might simply see the truth here in the sense that God does not make it difficult for us to turn to him.