It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

It was midnight and he was asleep after a long day. It had been messy, a near riot but he now had the two offenders in custody secure in stocks. Singing but secure in the stocks

Then the earthquake hit.

And everything fell apart.

Literally.

Doors swung open. Locks fell off. He just knew all the prisoners were gone. Disaster. No way he could catch them, and it would be him in those stocks.

He feels the sword at his side, heavy. An idea hits him, a bad idea. Better to go out easy on your sword, than at the hands of the prisoners… or the one that put them there.

Then a voice speaks out of the chaos, “Don’t do it, we are all here.”

“Lights”, he cries out. He must see it for himself. Could it be true? Sure enough there they sit.

What do you ask them? How? Why? What happened?

But for this Philippian jailer, there is only one question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

For many folks, we never get to that question till the earthquake hits. Earthquakes don’t always come at the best time but there is something about that moment, that makes everything clear. When our world falls apart when death is right at our side, when our only thought is no hope at all.

The great news is that there is hope in that moment. A voice that calls out. An answer to the question “What must I do”?

Believe in Jesus. Make a change. Wash away your sins.

Desperation can turn to joy. Fear is replaced with hope. Chaos with purpose.

It might be midnight. The earthquake may have hit. He is the answer to the most important question. What will you do?

Comments

The Gift You Give Yourself

I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me. There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15). I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven. So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives. When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.

Desire

Is it wrong to want something? I guess it depends on what we want. The Greek language had a word ‘ orego ’ that meant “to stretch oneself out in order to touch or grasp something, often used metaphorically to denote a strong desire or aspiration for something”. Paul uses this word in 1st Timothy as a good thing (to be an elder 3:1) and a bad thing (longing for money 6:10). Our desires oftentimes define who we are. They motivate us to action. They are the focus of our minds and actions. And they can be both good and bad. Sometimes we want something better and we run over people to get it. Sometimes, we want something better so we will strive to improve ourselves. Sometimes we see people with nothing they want and we envy them. Other people will see with no desire and we pity them. We need to desire good things. Be willing to work to get them. Care enough to try. We need to not desire bad things. Be willing to forgo o...

Until Midnight

In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...

Ecclesiastes 12:10

Search This Blog