The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 6 May 2019 – Avoid Double Standards
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TOPIC: Avoid Double Standards
READ: Galatians 2:11-14 New King James Version (NKJV)
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;
12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
THE MESSAGE:
In our reading today, Paul opposed Cephas at Antioch. Before certain men came from James, he (Cephas) had eaten with the Gentiles, but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
Others acted insincerely with him so that even Barnabas was carried away by their insincerity. Paul in his straight-forward nature, rebuked and corrected them. We must note Paul’s boldness and fearlessness.
Insincerity is a dangerous dagger that devours a person’s spirituality. It carries along falsehood and portrays a person as a liar because such a person claims to believe in one thing (God’s word) but his actions declare his faith as nothing but fallacy. Faith without works is dead. (James 2:17) God is not a Respecter of any person. In condemning evil, Paul respected no one, not even Cephas! The narrow road to heaven has no partiality or fear of persons on it. A spade must be called a spade.
Let us be honest, sincere, faithful and straight forward as Christians in our actions; there must not be compromise. Let us be crucified with Christ, so that Christ will live through us (Galatians 2:20), for if justification was through the law, then Christ died to no purpose.
PRAYER: O Lord, help us to be sincere Christians so that what we believe and preach will be seen through our actions in Jesus Name.
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