What Must I Do to be Saved?

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

Acts 16:29-40

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household." 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God — he and his whole family. 35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: "Release those men." 36 The jailer told Paul, "The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace." 37 But Paul said to the officers: "They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out." 38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.   39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.

NIV

Leading up to this, we are told Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail, and at midnight they were singing hymns and praising God, and the Lord caused a violent earthquake, and all the doors were thrown open, and their chains fell off, but they stayed there. Now, the jailer was assured he did not need to kill himself, came and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. The best question of all time is asked: "What must I do to be saved?" Of course, it took a mighty act of God to bring the jailer to his knees, seeking how he could be saved. What we should learn from this is that people do not come to repentance on their own, but only when they respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, or when they witness an act of God they cannot explain and acknowledge as the mighty hand of God. It might just take an internal earthquake to shake a person up enough to come to Jesus. It might take a mighty movement of the Spirit to loosen the chains that bind them, setting them free, so they can come to Jesus. But we know one thing for sure, God will do what God does best. We can testify, we can tell our story, we can praise Him, we can sing hymns and speak out boldly, but we will not convince anyone; however, when God's hand moves and the Spirit speaks into a person's heart, they have a choice to make. Ask what I must do to be saved, or tell him to leave me alone. We are so glad that we witnessed the mighty hand of God. We have witnessed a miracle that we cannot explain away, and so our only choice was to respond: "What must I do to be saved?"