What should we do?
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
In the world we live in today, we have an unlimited selection of activities, pastimes and hobbies to occupy the time we have been given here. From crafting to sports, reading to videos, tv to movies and cooking to dining out. Not to mention school, work, neighborhood and community events. We have become a society of business and entertainment. Most people are distracted and fully pursuing the “American dream” of having the latest amenities and being the most comfortable. This place has become focused on making ends meet and looking out for number one.
In today’s reading, the Apostle Peter is faced with a question from the multitudes after giving a message about the Holy Spirit and salvation in Jesus. The crowd asked: “What should we do?” Amazingly, Peter doesn’t tell them to go to college and get a good education so that you can get the best paying job. He doesn’t tell them to climb the corporate ladder to be in position to retire early and take it easy. He doesn’t even tell them to go to church weekly to learn all the laws and regulations so you can be a good person. He told them: “Repent before God and be baptized. Then receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to direct you through this life.” Peter went on to tell them that the promise was not only for them but for their children after them and for the generations after them.
The answer to this question is the same for us today. It is a lie to think that we live for a few short years in this world to just accumulate to goods and comforts it has to offer. That this life is all about retirement and taking it easy. The truth is, it doesn’t matter how early you retire in life, your purpose for being alive will always be the same and that is to pursue the One who made you and tell others about Him. Repent and receive the gift of God’s Spirit to be your guide and empowerment to reach the world around you!
Today I want to ask you a question. What are you pursuing? Take a look inside your heart and honestly answer if you are running after God and His plan and purpose or if you are chasing after things and collecting all the enjoyment of the stuff that is fading away? Make the decision today to repent and turn back to God. Receive His Spirit to be your source of all, then He will show you how to use the good things in life that you have accumulated to reach the lost world around you.
Today’s scripture reading: Acts 2:22-39
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—
23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
25 For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,
35Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
The Daily Dose 