A Genuine Heart

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

A GENUINE HEART

Acts 8:18-25

18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money 19 and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin." 24 Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me." 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

We have already been here and looked at this, but there was one more truth which we needed to spend some time with. Simon wanted to buy the power of God so that it could benefit him, however, Peter makes this charge against Simon, telling him he needs to repent. Although we are told that Simon also believed and was baptized, offering money to get that kind of power indicated to Peter that Simon’s heart was not right. This gives us the idea that although someone says they are a believer, they still could have a heart that is not right. Peter could discern that Simon’s heart held bitterness within and thus was captive to sin. How careful we must be when it comes to our hearts. We might look all so good on the outside, even putting up our façade, however, within we could be struggling with bitterness, unforgiveness, envy, jealousy, or some other kind of attitude that would indicate that we need to repent, change the way we think, change the attitude of our heart, otherwise we might just be considered as a captive to sin. We are told many times throughout the scriptures to rid ourselves of those attitudes of the heart, along with many other thoughts. It appears that Simon responded correctly, asking Peter to pray for him. He became aware of his captivity to sin, that his attitude was wrong, and wanted help to change. Whether that happened, we do not know, for we can only see the outward appearance of a man. This again brings us back to ensuring that is not all we are doing, showing our outward appearance just to look good. God sees our hearts and knows what is within. Let us make sure we keep allowing God to not only examine our hearts but help us bring about the needed changes in our hearts, and our attitudes, so they are genuine.