Wrong Thinking

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

WRONG THINKING

Acts 25:1-5

25:1 Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, 2 where the chief priests and Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul. 3 They urgently requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. 4 Festus answered, "Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. 5 Let some of your leaders come with me and press charges against the man there, if he has done anything wrong."

NIV

Now that the Jews had a new Roman procurator, they were all about trying that same trick on Festus that they tried on Felix. Once again, these are the chief priests and Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin, men of God, or supposed to be, waiting to kill a man because he followed Jesus, and taught the resurrection of the dead. They were so against the idea that Jesus, who they did have killed by the Romans, came back from the dead and is now not only alive but ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. That was so outlandish, so against the law, they so desperately cling to in an effort to find righteousness. How can any man ever think that he could perfectly obey every command of God, especially the one “Thou shall not commit murder” when they were plotting to commit murder. Are these chief priests and leaders of the Jewish people real at all, or are they just fake Jews, pretending to believe and act like Jews who worshipped God Almighty? This brings us back to the place we once were in our thinking about how well we do as believers in Jesus Christ, and as Christians when it comes to our attitudes and behaviors. We would certainly think that we do not plot to have hatred toward someone, for Jesus said that hatred is compared to murder. However, we have witnessed some Christians using gossip to destroy another believer’s reputation which in some sense is akin to hatred. Why would anyone want to gossip, or tell unsubstantiated accusations against someone if they did not harbor ill feelings, even to the point of hatred? These Jews were doing that exact thing, presenting changes against the character of Paul without any proof whatsoever. They were just outright fabricating lies in order to achieve their own purposes because of their hatred of Paul. They were violating both the law of God and the teachings of Jesus, all the while thinking themselves righteous men. The first thing we need to think about ourselves is that we are not righteous people, for there is none righteous, no not one. Jesus is the only Righteous One and if we are in Christ, who is our righteousness, then we would be holy and blameless in the sight of God. But to think that our righteousness comes from obedience to any law of God or teaching and commands of Jesus, would be insane at the least, or just plain dumb or wrong thinking. No, we must humble ourselves before God, confessing our sin, whatever degree of sin, if there is such a thing, we are guilty of. It does not matter how good we think we are; we are not that good. Besides, being good carries no weight in our salvation, or in our attaining any special prize. Sure, we should want to live to please God, but we cannot please him unless we believe in the one, he sent. However, we are to live in a manner that is not controlled by our sinful nature, but live as if we are being controlled by the Spirit. This again, is not about obedience to rules and regulations, but obedience to the urging of the Spirit and whatever that looks like. Let us not think more of ourselves than we should as those Jewish leaders did. Let us fully understand all we are in Christ. Let us not have wrong thinking.