Daily Devotional for Thursday, February 16th

The Offer by the Messiah

“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things,
from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses,” Acts 13:38, 39.

In the world of product promotion and advertising, a lot is said about staying on message, branding and brand recognition. The money producing world recognizes that, to effectively promote one’s message, one has to stick to that message. There are certain logos that we see and instantly know what or who they represent. The folks promoting a particular product, name or even politician have clearly done a good job of building a theme to which others will respond.

No one is suggesting here that the gospel is some product that must be promoted. We do however have a message, and it is important that we stick to it. Here, Paul was preaching in the synagogue in Antioch, and the audience would have been neutral at best and hostile at worst. Paul, a skilled orator and builder of arguments, laid it right out for his audience. What we see in our devotional verse is the same message that we all have. In the end, it is the only message with meaning. That is the forgiveness of sins and complete justification by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul certainly met his audience where they were. He showed them how his message was relevant and valid in light of the background of his audience. We can also do that. On the other hand, we do not see any mention of politics or social justice. While those things matter, they are not our message. When we have the floor, is the gospel what people hear or something else?

JUST A THOUGHT
While we can do and say a lot of things to help spread the gospel message,
in the end that is the only real message we have.

Wally Fry