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REFLECTION

The theme for our reflection is “Encouraged through the Word of God” To be encouraged means to be inspired, emboldened or strengthened. Encouraged through the Word of God means drawing inspiration and strength from God’s will and promises in Scripture. It also means being guided by the sermons, exhortations and reflection from Scripture. We shall reflect on the fact that there is no better encouragement than the Word of God because it speaks to the conscience and context.

Beloved in the Lord, we need to appreciate the context of Acts 15 before we turn to the main lesson for our reflection. Acts 15 describes the Jerusalem Council, where the early church resolved a major doctrinal dispute: Gentile converts did not need to be circumcised or follow the Law of Moses to be saved, as salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. After a heated debate, Peter and James affirmed that God accepted Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit through faith. The council sent a letter to the churches, allowing Gentiles to be saved by faith alone but asking them to abstain from four things: food sacrificed to idols, sexual immorality, meat from strangled animals, and blood, to maintain unity with Jewish believers.

Dear friend in Christ, the key lesson we deduce from the selected Scripture is that God can speak to our conscience and context and transform us irrespective of our backgrounds. The Church leadership realised that, irrespective of our cultural differences and traditions, we are saved by grace and therefore must give up certain practices that undermine the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must no longer burden ourselves with the laws, traditions and practices that make our faith incomplete and trivialise our salvation. We are told, “So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. 32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. (Acts 15:30-32). The power of the Word is to transform and continually encourage us after we have been liberated from the slavery of sin. It is for this reason the Psalmist declared that “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalms 119:105) The Word of God greatly encourages us to do the will of God and not go back to cultural and immoral practices that render us impure. Our greatest encouragement from the Word of God is that it enables us to follow the perfect example of our Lord Jesus Christ in living a life that pleases God.

In the 21st Century, we are also greatly encouraged by the Word of God to desist from all kinds of abominations and sinful desires that the world promotes in name, satisfying one’s desires and inclinations, materialism and unguided and limitless liberties to explore the utmost possible pleasure and desires, even to one’s detriment or peril. We were greatly encouraged by Paul when he wrote, “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”,—but not everything is constructive.” (1 Corinthians 10:23) Again, He wrote, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. (Galatians 2:20). We are profoundly encouraged by the prayer for the disciples, and this prayer still applies to us today. He prayed, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:15-17) Let us continue to draw inspiration from the truth, the Word of God, not from the world and its traditions and cultural influences. Finally, we must be encouraged through the Word of God because Jesus admonished us, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) His will can only be done when we obey and greatly are encouraged through the Word of God.

In summary, we have learnt that our only source of encouragement and spiritual development must be the Word of God. We must no longer be influenced by our traditions, desires and practices that held us captives, but for the grace of Christ that has saved us and made us the Children of God. Shalom

PRAYER

May the Holy Spirit sustain the hunger for the Word of God in us to always remain encouraged by it. Amen.