Two Questions
By Doug Long
We as Christians are supposed to be a little different from the rest of the world. This is what I have been told and I believe this. Jesus Christ gave his life so that the sins of the world can be forgiven. That statement seems a little abstract when put that way, so to avoid any disconnection, I thought I should put another way. Jesus Christ allowed himself to be savagely beaten and brutally murdered in order to pay the price for my sins and for your sins. Romans 6:10 says “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
I think that those that really believe this on a personal level can’t help but change. We can’t keep living by the standards of the world. We feel inwardly compelled to live by the teachings of Jesus. We want to live by the teachings of Jesus. We enjoy living the way Jesus wants us to live. In fact, we can’t imagine living any other way.
I recently heard a radio program that talked about two questions that were asked in Acts 2. In Acts 2:12 the people asked a question, “12So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?" These people were amazed at the ability of the apostles to speak in tongues, but the same question has been asked again and again over the centuries of the Christian who turns the other cheek, or who prays for those who persecute them. People want to know how they can find the same kind of peace in their lives that we have in ours. I think that this is the greatest evangelical tool we have. There was a second question that was asked in Acts 2:37, “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’” This is a question that is also asked of the Christian, but it isn’t asked until the person asking it is convinced that they are a sinner and not yet saved. It is true that someone might ask the second question first, but it is much more likely that they will ask the second question if they are motivated to ask the first by the way we are living.
