Seems Good to Him

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

SEEMS GOOD TO HIM

Acts 15:22-29

22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:

The apostles and elders, your brothers,

To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

Greetings.

24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Farewell.

NIV

It is good to maintain the format of this letter as it is in the scriptures, and some truths certainly apply for that period of time, which we may not need to apply, except for sexual immorality. However, we want to focus on one statement in this letter. The authors of this letter made it known that it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to them not to burden the believers there with the law of Moses and the oral traditions of Judaism, mainly, circumcision. We could also note that some disturbed the new believers' minds with false teaching. That has not changed over time, because there are still false teachers among us today, not troubling but deceiving people's minds. But it is this truth about what seemed right with the Holy Spirit that bears truth into our lives. There was discussion among the apostles and elders regarding this situation and how to resolve it, but it was the leading of the Spirit that brought about the agreement with all the brothers. We would do well to do what seems right with the Holy Spirit, so that whatever we do is in the will of the Father. The Spirit does lead us into all truth; however, we have to be listening to be led. It can be easy to do so many things in our own desire to be religious, or do what we think are good works, or good works we think are right to do. But what seems right to the Holy Spirit would be the best thing for us to do. He has given us many gifts throughout the scriptures, and the Spirit also leads us in the direction of our lives, in our decisions, plans, and all our life choices. Before we do anything, especially concerning the church, but also our personal lives, we should consult with the Holy Spirit, so we know what seems good to Him.