New Testament Challenge, Day 20 – Acts 1-6
Having finished the four Gospels yesterday, today we begin a new section of the New Testament. In Acts we receive a great gift and glimpse into the life of the early Church. Some like to refer to the “birthday of the Church as being the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2) but I have different perspective. Since we know from the Gospels that the coming of Christ was not a new idea but a fulfillment and, as we will see in the days to come by reading Acts and the writings of Saint Paul, a literal continuation of the People of God – the New Israel, then we must consider Acts and the scene of Pentecost as a “fresh start” rather than the beginning of the Church.
In repentance Jesus offers us, as many times as it takes, to have a fresh start on our relationship with Him. Acts underlines how that new start took place and how the Apostles and first Christians allowed their faith in the Risen Lord to govern their way of life.
If you have been participating in the New Testament Challenge, then you too have the chance to make a fresh start and allow what you have been reading to take control of your lives. You have the chance to allow the Love of God that you have received overflow to others. You have the chance to enter heaven no matter how you have lived in the past.
There is only one thing between you and that journey to heaven…..repentance. If you have never been baptized then you must ask yourself, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2.37) and receive the Gift of the Seal of the Holy Spirit in baptism and Chrismation. THEN you will be on the journey of salvation as shared by the first Christians in Acts.
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