Set Free: Devoting Ourselves

      While searching the Bible to answer the question of how Jesus through the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death with which we have trained our bodies (Romans 7:23-8:2), I have continually come back to Acts 2:42.

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

      These people had been set free from the Law of Moses and the law of sin and death. They were set free from the devil’s captivity. However, they were well aware of their precarious situation.

      Satan was attacking. Satan wanted them back. How could they, puny humans, overcome such an enemy? They had to take refuge in God, their Savior. How would they take that refuge? They would not sit on their thumbs and just expect God to work. Instead they followed these four lines of defense—teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper and prayer.

      How do we view these things? Do we view them as assignments to try to appease God or as lines of defense against our enemy, Satan? These four devotions are how we take refuge in God.

      To take refuge in God, we must know His will for our lives. We must know His instructions. Thus, the early disciples were devoted to the apostle’s teaching. They did not yet have the New Testament, so they devoted themselves to those who would produce it. They listened, they learned and they lived what they heard. How else could they overcome Satan?

      They took refuge in God by taking refuge in God’s people. Fellowship in the New Testament doesn’t equal potluck. It equals joint participation in the work of the Lord. They were in fellowship when they assembled together, when they praised God from house to house, when they confessed to one another, praying for one another. How else could they overcome Satan?

      They devoted themselves to the memory of what God had already done through Jesus. Through the Supper, they remembered they were not alone. If God had sacrificed His Son while they were His enemies to save them, how much more would He deliver them now that they were His children? How else could they overcome Satan?

      They took refuge in God through prayer. They knew they were weak. They knew they could not win on their own. They knew God was a strength and a help, so they prayed. They knew what God had done for them, so they praised Him. They knew where they had failed, so they confessed. They knew they had to call God to their aid. How else could they overcome Satan?

      These are not homework assignments. These are lines of defense. How strong are yours?

      More on this to come.

Edwin L. Crozier