Today Daily Devotional

The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
— Acts 13:2

When we see orange barrels on the roadway, that’s usually a sign of work going on.If we see a bag of flour, eggs, and measuring cups on the kitchen counter, that’s also a sign that someone is at work.A car with its hood up and some tools scattered on the ground tell us the same thing.These are all signs that someone is busy.We can see that in our text today too. The Antioch church heard a word from the Holy Spirit telling them to send two of their leaders, Saul and Barnabas, to serve as missionaries. That called for an act of radical obedience, generosity, and faith. Can you imagine your church sending its pastors on a mission to go where the Spirit was leading them?The response of the Antioch church was a sign that God was busy doing something beautiful in his broken world. God was transforming people into new creations, gathering them into new communities, and leading them into deep faithfulness. That, in turn, points to something even bigger: God’s new creation!Of course, that new creation isn’t fully formed yet (we aren’t either!). It won’t be complete until Christ returns. In the meantime all who are in Christ continue to serve as signposts that God is busy with something big!

Lord, help us so that we no longer view anyone or anything from a worldly point of view. Give us kingdom eyes to see you at work behind the scenes. Amen.

“Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
— Acts 10:20

What happens when you hear God give you an instruction? You do what he says.But what if God tells you something, and it doesn’t seem to make sense?In Acts 10 we read about a strange dream Peter had, and then we see the larger picture God was pointing to when he sent Peter that dream. Cornelius, a Roman centurion, believed in God and gave generously to people in need. And God wanted Peter to tell Cornelius and his family about salvation in Jesus Christ. It’s a sign that Christ and his gifts were intended not only for Jews but also for Gentiles (non-Jews), including Roman commanders!God brought Cornelius’s representatives to Peter soon after Peter received his strange dream. And to make things crystal clear, God told Peter to go with them, for God had sent them. Peter learned that the men had come from a Roman centurion, a person he would not normally associate with, according to the Jewish law. But the point of God’s strange command became clear as Cornelius and many other Gentiles came to faith in Jesus and were baptized (Acts 10:23-48).What will you learn today if you obey God’s command, even if it seems confusing or challenging? Watch carefully to see what God is doing. Take your time. It often takes us a while to see where God is building his new creation.

God, thank you for bringing your salvation in Christ to all peoples! Give us hearts to obey and eyes to see you at work— even through us—in unexpected ways. Amen.

“Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.”
— Acts 9:15

Would you expect wine to come from a jug of motor oil? What if you cracked open an egg and found maple syrup inside? Or how about opening your suitcase and finding a bed of tulips in bloom? Not likely, right?Similarly, you would not expect to hear about Saul saying or doing anything to promote the cause of Jesus. Saul had been persecuting Jesus’ followers. He was the chief engineer of the religious leaders’ project to snuff out the early church, and nothing was going to stop him.But then Jesus did.Jesus stopped Saul in his tracks one day with a blinding light on the road to Damascus. Jesus spoke to Saul, transformed him, and came to live in him— just as in all of the other believers. Saul became a new creation. He moved away from death toward life, away from unbelief to belief, away from “breathing out murderous threats” to proclaiming Christ.How might this kind of story come to life in you? What is developing in you, as the resurrected Christ becomes more fully formed in you?You might not be a Saul, but if you believe in Jesus as the Savior, you are a new creation, just like Saul and so many others. And Christ aims to be visible through the life-changing work he is doing in you.

“Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see Jesus”— at work within us and within the people we love. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Joseph . . . sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
— Acts 4:36-37

When you see a person who has met Jesus and who is changing to live more and more like Jesus, you know that something new is going on. It means that Jesus is alive in them and that the resurrection has really happened!We see some examples in our text for today. Just as we saw in Acts 2:41-47 (April 14), we see the early Christians united with one another, sharing with one another, and giving generously to support one another. Some even sold their land or houses and gave the money “to anyone who had need.”One example mentions Joseph, a Jewish man from Cyprus who is now a believer in Christ. His actions give a clear sign that his life has changed. He sold some property that he owned, and he gave the money to be used for building up the community of believers in Christ. Joseph’s generosity shows that the generous Lord Jesus is living in his heart. In this picture of Joseph we see a new creation, evidence of the resurrected Christ.The life and power of the resurrected Jesus keep changing us still today. The living Jesus finds his way into human lives, takes up a transforming presence within them, and they become new creations. They also become signs that the Lord’s big, new creation is coming to life.

Father, turn us broken people into signposts of Jesus’ resurrection, proof that a new creation is on the way. Shatter all the ways in which we still reflect anything unrelated to Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen.

They were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
— Acts 4:13

When the Jewish religious leaders in our text for today saw two ordinary, unschooled men, Peter and John, speaking courageously and with certainty about the Scriptures, they knew something had happened to them. Peter and John’s words seemed to sparkle, and the religious leaders “took note that these men had been with Jesus.”These religious leaders were making the right connection, but they didn’t reach the right conclusion—that the power of the resurrected Jesus was now living and active inside these two believers. The religious leaders also did not realize that the man who had been lame was now healed because the Lord’s resurrection power had come into him too.When you are in Christ, as Peter and John were, you don’t become richer, prettier, or stronger, but you begin the process of becoming a new creation. You also become a signpost, like a signal or pointer, to the ongoing work of God on his whole new creation. You are different from what you would have been without the Lord living in you. And as he becomes more fully formed in you, the people around you will more and more likely take note that you too have been with Jesus.

Father, we want to show others that we are becoming new creations in Christ. Do what is needed within us, building on what you have already done, so that it’s clear that we have been with Jesus. Amen.