21 Days of Devotion
Read Acts 1:1–26
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS
Acts begins with an extremely brief summary of what Luke wrote in his Gospel about the life, ministry, and mission of Jesus. He then quickly transitions to the ascension when Christ Jesus goes up to into Heaven. But before Jesus ascends, He gives instructions to His disciples. He tells them that they are to be His witnesses. They are to be His emissaries, bearing witness to the world about Him. The remainder of Acts describes the Gospel spreading outward at an unparalleled pace as His people carry out their commission. The twelve apostles and the other early believers boldly proclaim the Gospel, even in the face of life-threatening opposition. They could have such boldness, such security in their calling, because they believed and were devoted to the Gospel. It had transformed them. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus all enabled their complete devotion in spreading the good news about Him. The same Spirit that empowered their witness then empowers our witness today. May we live out our calling today just as faithfully as those first Christians lived out their calling then.
“If we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten Son of God and that He came into this world and went to the cross of Calvary and died for our sins and rose again in order to justify us and to give us life anew and prepare us for heaven—if you really believe that, there is only one inevitable deduction, namely that He is entitled to the whole of our lives, without any limit whatsoever.”
– D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
