Changed Lives

June 24

2 Kings 11-12

Psalm 74:12-17

Proverbs 16:17-19

Acts 19

Changed Lives

“And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.  Also, many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing, and disclosing their practices.  And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and were burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.   So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”  Acts 19:17-20 LSB

During Paul’s third missionary journey, he spent several years in Ephesus preaching and teaching.  Acts 19 gives accounts of his ministry there, the miracles he performed and the unrest it caused in the city.  When Paul arrived in Ephesus, he met some disciples who had not received the Holy Spirit.  He explained the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.  They were baptized and the Holy Spirit immediately indwelled them.  They began speaking in tongues and prophesying.  He preached in the synagogue but many of the Jews there rejected him so he took those who believed and moved on to another location to preach daily for two years.  Extraordinary miracles were being performed including people being healed, evil spirits being cast out, and many people turning to Jesus.  Verses 17-20 describes how there were many people in Ephesus who practiced magic.  They heard Paul preach about Jesus and many believed and were saved.  In an amazing display of repentance and turning from their old life, they took all of their magic books and burned them.  The books were very expensive, but instead of selling them to get the money for them they burned them.  They apparently recognized the evil they contained and did not want it to influence anyone else.  Their magic was probably their source of income, so they turned from their old sinful practices and followed Jesus at great personal cost to them. 

As in the early church, when a person comes to faith in Jesus there is an obvious change in their life.  The Holy Spirit indwells you and begins a process of transformation.  We don’t have to clean ourselves up in order to come to Jesus.  Actually, we can’t clean ourselves up.  We are dead in our sins and we are not capable of being righteous on our own.  We come to Him just as we are and then He begins to work in our heart and mind to create in us something new.  There is no way someone can come to Jesus and remain the same as they were before.  Our thoughts, actions, desires, plans, goals, habits, and decisions are affected by His abiding presence in us.  Just like those in Ephesus who practiced magic, we cannot continue in our old practices.  The demonic forces that influenced the magicians had to go immediately just as there may be things in our lives that He needs to get rid of right away, but He works to transform other areas slowly and gently over time. While transformation may be gradual, it should be apparent.  If there is no change, we should question whether there is true faith.