Two Weeks on Becoming a Christian: Day 7 – Conversions spread outside the Jewish community (Acts 8)
Make sure that it’s real! Simon the magician was impressed by the ‘signs and great miracles’, but his ‘heart’ was ‘not right before God’(13,19). The Ethiopian’s conversion was real. Searching the Scriptures, he found the Saviour (30-35). From the Ethiopian’s conversion, we learn of Jesus’ promise: ‘Seek and you will find’. From Simon’s tragedy, we hear Jesus’ warning: ‘Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord”, shall enter the kingdom of heaven…’(Matthew 7:7,21-23). What is God saying to us from these two very different stories? – ‘Be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure’(2 Peter 1:10). ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart today; Try me, O Lord, and know my thoughts I pray; See if there be some wicked way in me, Cleanse me from every sin and set me free’(Mission Praise. 587).
