Thursday, January 2, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Acts 3
Key Verse
Acts 3:14 — “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;”
Devotional Thought
The ninth hour had come, the middle of the afternoon, when Peter and John climbed the temple mount for prayer. At the gate called Beautiful, a man who had never walked in his life was carried into place by others, as he was every day, to beg from those going in to worship. He asked the two apostles for alms, expecting coins. What he received instead was a hand grasped, a command spoken in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and strength flooding into feet and ankle bones that had never borne weight. He did not merely stand; he leaped, and walked, and went with them into the temple, praising God.
The people recognized him — the same man who had sat at that gate for years. Their wonder drew a crowd to Solomon’s porch, and Peter seized the moment, but not for himself. Why look so earnestly on us, he asked, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had glorified His Son Jesus, whom they had denied before Pilate and killed — the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead. Peter did not soften the charge, yet he named their ignorance and called them to repent, that their sins might be blotted out and times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.
Notice the shape of the healing. The man asked for silver and gold; God gave him soundness of body and a voice of praise. The apostles had no money to offer, but they had Christ’s name, and they gave what they had. So often we assume our usefulness to God depends on what we lack — resources, eloquence, strength. Peter had none of the expected currency, and yet the power of Jesus was not diminished by his poverty.
At the start of a new year, we tend to count what we have and plan what we will do. This passage invites a different accounting. The lame man was carried to the gate each day, never imagining that this afternoon would be his last there as a beggar. We do not know what God intends for the ordinary hours of our week — an errand, a conversation, a prayer meeting attended out of habit. Peter and John were simply going up to pray at the appointed hour. Faithfulness in the ordinary place put them exactly where God meant to work.
And the healing was not the end of the story. It became a sermon, and the sermon became an invitation: repent, be converted, turn from iniquity, for God sent His Son to bless you. The season of resolutions is a fitting time to hear that word. The greatest gift we can receive is not a changed circumstance but sins blotted out and a Savior who turns us from our iniquities.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you expecting only “silver and gold” — a modest improvement in circumstances — while God may be offering something far greater, the soundness and salvation that come through faith in the name of Jesus?
- Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer when God used them. What ordinary, faithful habit in your week might be the very place where God intends to meet someone in need through you this year?
Prayer
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we bless You for glorifying Your Son Jesus and for the power that is in His name. We confess that we often look for small coins when You are offering wholeness of soul and body. Give us the faith that Peter had, to give what we have rather than mourn what we lack. Make us faithful in the ordinary hours of prayer and worship, and let us be ready to speak of Jesus to those You place before us. Blot out our sins, bring times of refreshing from Your presence, and turn us daily from our iniquities, through the Prince of life, our risen Savior. Amen.