Acts 2:38 – Verse of the Day 8/25/14

Imagine for a moment a man who loves a woman. What would happen if he decided never to tell her? Would he be likely to experience any response to his love? Now consider what their life would be like if he told her about his love and she shared it, but they both decided never to tell anyone else and to spend their whole lives married in secret. What would that be like?

This verse is from Peter’s “first Christian sermon” in Acts 2. Here he tells us that becoming a Christian not only means a personal act of repentance and faith, but also includes a public aspect. Just as John the Baptist offered a public baptism of repentance and Jesus emphasized both personal faith and baptism into the community of faith in the Great Commission, Peter also reminds us that our faith is both personal and public at the same time. Being forgiven not only means we are forgiven personally, but that we are united to a new family to our savior through faith.

As you reflect on this climactic instruction from Peter’s sermon, use it as an opportunity to spend some time repenting for your sin. As you pray, ask the Lord to help you to see repentance not only as a private event, but a public one as well. Thank the Lord for forgiving you and giving you a new family.