Vol.6, No. 15– April 11, 2021
The Devil’s Delight . . .
Acts 5:29-31
We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. –Acts 5:29-31
A most important moment of our life is right now. Hesitancy and procrastination hold us back from fulfilling what God has planned for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11-13). Procrastination is our symptom; fear is our problem. When we delay our responses to God’s expectations we make Satan delighted. It ought not be so.
We do need to guard our time; it is a precious gift of Almighty God. Time in our span of life has a short shelf-life. We must be an action set of believers, acting before the opportunity expires. Procrastination is basically related with yesterday. Even if we seem to be on the right track, we will get run over if we just sit there (Arthur Godfrey). When we put things off, we make it harder to complete, and putting the harder things make things more difficult for us.
We cannot help but consider that our obedience to God is one of His methods meeting provisions for our lives. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. –Isaiah 1:19-20. Obedience brings blessings of God. If we delay, procrastinate, it is disobedience. When we speak to our child who delays their response, we always remind our child that obedience means at once. The outcome of delayed action is almost always discouragement.
Why do we not jump at opportunities under God as quickly as we jump at conclusions?
Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is hurried. When someone speaks about what they are going to do tomorrow, they probably did the same thing yesterday. –Anonymous
What do you consider when challenged with work unfinished and work not yet begun? The devil is delighted in our procrastination!
Life Application
Today is a great day to be active in our response to God. Actually, it is always too soon to stop being active. It is not always important for us to understand God’s leading; the greater importance is to obey. There is great reason to obey God: We ought to obey God rather than men –Acts 5:29. Choosing to obey earthly-minded men and women keeps us from being instant in responding to what God has said. That places people of the earth as greater authorities than our God.
Believer, we need to be instant in obedience to our great God. What human of the earth has offered themselves in death to bring us salvation. Only our great God has sent His only Son to die on the cross at Calvary on our behalf. Only Jesus can save us. No man or woman of the earth has any capacity to give us eternal life.
That is great encouragement for us as we seek to live our lives to bring glory and honor to the name of Jesus. It is great encouragement for us to have the perfect God in our soul, that we might think, speak, and act according to His Word.
