Law Breakers

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

LAW BREAKERS

Acts 23:12-22

12 The next morning the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. 13 More than forty men were involved in this plot. 14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. 15 Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here." 16 But when the son of Paul's sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him." 18 So he took him to the commander. The centurion said, "Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you." 19 The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, "What is it you want to tell me?" 20 He said: "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. 21 Don't give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request." 22 The commander dismissed the young man and cautioned him, "Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me."

NIV

These forty men who took an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul may have thought it was a secret, but their sin was exposed. How is it that men who were raised in the Jewish traditions, who were supposed to live by the Ten Commandments, one being, "You shall not murder," formed a conspiracy to murder Paul? They were judging Paul for speaking out against the law that they had decided to ignore or purposely break. Sinners calling someone a sinner and worthy of death is bizarre, yet that is exactly what the Jews did in their conspiracy against Jesus. That is why Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. In essence, they were the lawbreakers, not Paul.  We should be extremely careful not to get caught up in that kind of thinking. There is a difference between the church and the world as to how we treat each other. The world does not abide by any biblical principles, so anger, hatred, unforgiveness, criticism, judgmentalism, back-biting, and even murder are standard practices. Sure, there may be some exceptions, with some being rather nice people, but their refusal to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior still puts them in the category of lost sinners. We within the church are simply found sinners, as we have accepted Jesus and make every effort to live in accordance with the law of love that Jesus established when he set the first aside. The question is: are we, in some way, similar to whitewashed tombs? Have we developed attitudes toward other believers that do not apply to the law of love? Do we become judgmental of other believers whom we think have broken the rules we established as the standard to live by? Do we hold any grudge or resentment against another believer that we think has offended us? Are we willing to forgive instantly, or do we want to dwell in our hurt feelings? They plotted, their conspiracy was found out, exposed, and foiled. Now, how were they going to go back on their bond, their oath? Because they were unable to fulfill their oath, they would either have to starve to death or break their oath. How foolish it is to live as they tried to. We are believers in Jesus and have decided to follow Jesus. We have decided to love each other, and therefore all our thoughts, attitudes, words, responses, and behaviors are guided by love. We could never be a part of a conspiracy, even if it were a conspiracy of one against anyone. Love covers a multitude of sins. Because we live under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, with the command of Jesus to love God with our whole being and love others the same way we love ourselves, we live forgiven and forgiving. In that way, we would never be considered lawbreakers.