[Discoveries] 03-26-07 True spirituality

[Inspiration in Your Inbox]

/*The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping 
between two soldiers ... -- Acts 12:6*/

When I was a young man, I tried to figure out what made people 
spiritual. Were you spiritual if you breathed "amen" and "hallelujah" 
aloud during prayer meetings? Were you spiritual if you smiled and said, 
"praise the Lord" whenever anyone paid you a compliment? Were you 
spiritual if you were at church every time the door was open?

The answer eluded me, as you can guess from the way I was asking the 
question. But here in the passage we see spirituality in real life.

Peter was sleeping.

Think about it. It was the night before trial. Herod probably intended 
to kill Peter, a murder for political expediency disguised as judicial 
due process. Ugly, painful death was on the agenda.

But Peter was sleeping. Sleeping so hard that the angel had to hit him 
on the side to wake him up.

Now that, my friend, is true spirituality.

Why was Peter sleeping? Why wasn't he up preparing his legal defense? 
Why wasn't he ruminating over all the horrific methods the Romans used 
to put people to death? Was he out of touch with reality?

Nope. Rather Herod was out of touch. That night, Peter walked away from 
prison a free man. But seventeen verses later, Herod was dead.

Just as Jesus slept in the boat, so also Peter slept in the prison, 
unconcerned about the storm raging around him. Peter, the coward, who 
denied Christ three times, was now perfectly at peace as he faced the 
malice and cruelty of Rome.

True spirituality is the inner transformation that takes place as we 
encounter the Risen Christ. When Jesus takes a coward -- or, for that 
matter, a pervert, an addict, a persecutor, or just an ordinary, garden 
variety sinner -- and does His work inside, no one can walk away unchanged.

Be encouraged!
Dwight


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