Begin with 2 minutes of stillness and silence before God.

Act 15 is very rich and has many lessons in it. I know, for me, when I read an entire chapter of the Bible, I need a lot of time to process it - the many words, the passages, and the events that take place. I know some of you may have laughed when I said, “many words", but it is true. Sometimes when we are given a lot to read, comprehending can be tough, and application of what you learned can be close to impossible. I encourage us all to go back and reread this passage and maybe do what my school teacher friends call “chunking the chapter”. In other words, read one section at a time and apply the SOAP method to it (Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer).  SOAP is a simple approach to reading scripture that will help you discover the true meaning of the passage. It will help you to gain more context and see how the lessons taught in scripture can be applied to your life.

What jumped out to me in this reading is how quickly we as humans can complicate things. I can complicate a walk on the beach. My wife can attest! I tell my team that a weakness of mine is the discipline of being still. Even worse, I can look at something that is functioning well and become tempted to blow it up, break it, and rebuild it FOR NO REASON. I wish I wasn’t like this, but I can see in Acts 15 that I am not alone. We see how early believers, elders, and leaders of the faith felt strongly about adding to the gift of God’s Grace of Jesus and making this simple gift complicated in receiving it.

Thankfully Peter, Barnabas, Paul, and James simply reminded everyone that instead of adding more hoops for new believers to jump through, we need to make it simpler for people to receive the Grace that God wants to give. Peter said in Acts 15:11, “No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as we are.” Barnabas and Paul reminded them of all the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the new believers. James said in Acts 15:19, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles (different groups and cultures of people that are new to faith) who are turning to God.”

Praise God that Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James were able to shut down the thought that we need to do anything other than believe and accept a relationship with the Risen Savior, Jesus Christ! Just as Paul and Barnabas were teaching the elders and apostles all the wonders God was doing in and through the Gentiles, without them having to adhere to the old traditions, I firmly believe that we will experience God’s wonders as we simply know, love, and follow Jesus, too.

Lastly, toward the end of this passage, I am again encouraged. I’m encouraged because I see the humanity of the early leaders of the faith as they strive to follow Jesus and do what they believe to be right, even though they still faced life and got sideways at times.

We also see that Paul and Barnabas have a sharp disagreement. Who knows who was right or wrong, but they separated based on what they believed was right. I encourage you to take this as motivation to keep following him and keep forgiving yourself and others.  Try to stop making the act of following Jesus a perfectionist course. We should let a walk on the beach be a walk on the beach. Simply know, love, and follow Jesus as He specifically calls you to do. This will help you to do as Jesus called us all to do, which is to love Him FULLY and love our neighbor as ourselves. When we do that, I believe He will be most glorified, and you can’t help but not show Him everywhere and to everyone you come across.

Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection: 

• Has someone greatly impacted your faith by their obedience to speak Truth into your life? Check out this story on our Share Your Story page from Karen Carlisle about the ministry of motherhood. Check out Venture Live on Instagram and Facebook for more stories featuring Venture moms!
• What makes you think you are just not good enough, not measuring up, or not being qualified to know, love, and follow Jesus Christ? I encourage you to write that idea, thing, or person’s name down on a sheet of paper. Speak to someone you trust about it. Ask them to pray with you about it. Then place the piece of paper on the cross this Sunday. 
• If you need another physical exercise, take the paper and throw it in the trash or into a fire as a way of saying to yourself I’m not going to believe this lie anymore.
  
• I encourage you to seek a House Church before summer hits. This is a community of people that can help you and speak truth to you similar to how Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James spoke to the group in Act 15. I promise that you will not regret it!