Fifty Thousand Pieces of Silver

Ladies, I am so bad. Okay, maybe it is more proper to say "I behaved so badly".

Here's the story:

I went to church yesterday with the best of intentions to be a "good girl" for the Lord. I didn't fight with the family. I prepared my heart for worship. I did my Sunday school lesson. I went to Sunday school and it was awesome. We are studying Revelations. I shared some things I learned and I learned some new things. All was well. In service, I sat with my family and we looked "oh so together". I greeted friend and foe with loving embraces and hand shakes. I acted in love. I sang some great Christmas songs with the congregation. Listen attentively to the preacher, with some distraction but not much. Then to top all off, our family even went to evening service. It used to be we were in church every time the doors opened. It had been a while since our family went to evening service together.

It was a special service because several individuals were getting baptized. One of which was a sweet little girl of a "girl friend". Well, the preacher got to preaching about baptism. He pointed to several references in the Bible regarding why we practice baptism. My "bad girl" self just couldn't get into it. I was so bored for some reason. I believed in what was being preached but I guess I was thinking of the stack of Christmas cards delivered to our family that were sitting next to me on the chair. However, the next thing I knew he directed to us to the Book of Acts. Ladies, he sent us to a particular reference but I decided to read on and on in Acts. I was seeing things I hadn't seen before and the next thing I knew service was over and every one was going to the baptismal. Oops! "I'm bad". It gets worse. My girlfriend who is in crutches was able to make the stairs to see her daughter get baptized but suddenly I was so tired and had a headache. Does anyone hear the word "Selfish". I did but I just kept on going to my van to sit. Kevin went to the baptism. As for me? Well...I loved the Christmas cards I read while waiting.

Ladies, I was victim to my selfishness, because to experience the public profession of tender hearts that were chosen by God is truly a joyful experience. God was smiling on our congregation last night.

Okay, while I was reading in Acts during service last night, a certain scripture caught my eye. I read it and was captured by it. It taught me about letting go of things regardless of the cost. Here it is:

Acts 19:17-20

....and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

I am not a Bible scholar but here's a little background. In this chapter, it says that God was working "unusual" miracles through Paul. Apparently some Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to "call the Lord" over those who had evil spirits saying "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." The evil spirit in one of the men being exorcised called out and said he did not recognize these Jewish exorcists. The evil spirit leaped on them and overpowered them. They fled from the house where this took place naked.

Here's the interesting part: The Bible says all Jews and Greeks in Ephesus found out about this incident and "fear fell on them and the name of the Lord was magnified". You see, Ladies, the name of Jesus was not meant to be used without reverence and respect. I was convicted about why it is not right to flippantly say "Oh Lord" or "Oh Jesus". Anyways moving on to the good part.

These Jews and Greeks were believers. After hearing of this incident, they came together and confessed their deeds. I assume their deeds of indiscretion/sins. These people were saved but they hadn't let go of items that were of their old nature. Specifically those who had practiced magic took their books, which I assume they were hanging on to though they no longer practiced. They held themselves accountable by burning them "in the sight of all". These books were valuable...worth 50 thousand pieces of silver. In result of them letting go of these "valuable" things, the Bible says "the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed." Yahoo!

I hope this scripture speaks to you like it spoke to me. I wanted to assess if there was anything in my heart or tangibly in my home that was not Godly that needed to be "burned"so to speak. I still need to do this. I know it's hard. Especially the tangible stuff. The stuff we have spent so much of our hard earned money on, yet we idolize. We idolize to the point if God asked us to get rid of it, we would have to think twice because of the cost.

I have a friend. She is a young girl in her twenties. She had listened to an evangelist who shared about cleaning out your heart and preparing for the Lord's coming. She went home and sorted through her books, CDs, and movies. She had quite a bit of money invested in them. They are were thrown away. She knew that listening and/or viewing these things were taking her time and mind off Christ. She was a brave young lady to her peers...and to me.

If someone has "need" of something we have that we don't use or have extra of, why is it so hard to let go? If someone needed my cell phone for the day, I would probably say "no" because I need it ...or do I? I could borrow Kev's or trust God to take care of my car and kids, which I claim I need my cell phone for. What about the DVDs, and CDs? I am convicted here. My kids have horrible movies they have bought. I have movies that aren't the best either. You know the romances or comedies that have questionable ethics or tainted humor. All these things are coming to my mind.

Ladies, however the most important thing here is to search our hearts for things that don't represent Him well in our personalities, dispositions, and our homes. No matter what the cost, we must consider what will be pleasing to God. What will bring the results that the scripture says "so the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed."

So there you have a glimpse into my what was in my heart last night. It started it out good, went to bad, then the Lord in His wisdom and faithfulness provided me a lesson. I love Him dearly and I love you all who read dearly. You haven't gave up on this "bad" girl.