Book Fire in Ephesus

BIBLE BITES

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Book Fire in Ephesus

To some it seemed like such a waste. Others looked on - shocked and surprised. They had seen the towering blaze and smelled the smoke from the huge bonfire. Mental calculators were clicking as people closely watched the bonfire grow. Another former magician arrives with his box of books and throws his favored belongings one by one into the flames.  Witches and psychics arrive and add some more fuel to the fire.

Finally someone estimates that the books and materials burned in the Ephesus Bonfire were worth 50,000 pieces of silver. That's no small chunk of change. Newsworthy indeed!  Can imagine the headlines the next day:  Former Witches, Magicians, Necromancers and Psychics Abandon Their Trade and Embrace Jesus Christ.

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts

brought their books together

and burned them in the sight of all.

And they counted the value of them

and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

(Act 19:19)

It's one thing for me to say that I am a Christian or that I love the Lord. But the real proof to those who know me is the change in my life. These people in Ephesus made their living off their magic tricks and dark, demonic practises. Many of them had become wealthy through their involvement with the occult. But now Christ had changed their lives. A radical transformation occurred. A 180 degree turn in their lives. New desires and new behaviour. Publicly they demonstrated that, at any cost, they were abandoning their past - even if it meant a collective loss  of 50,000 pieces of silver.  Profit was no longer their bottom line. They resigned from the Magicians' Guild. They turned a corner on their past. Christ was now the center of their lives. Pleasing Him was their daily driving force. Their new bottom line was:  Does this honor Christ or please HIM? If not, burn it. Get it out of our lives.

Can you think of anything in your life that you need to throw into a bonfire? These new Christians in Ephesus were not even willing to discard their past by selling it. They didn't want anyone else to be contaminated by the things they once enjoyed on the road to Hell. But someone argues - "You don't understand how much a part of my life that music was or those movies were or those tarot cards were. They were almost an obsession with me before I was saved. So I find it really hard to chuck those things out of my life. I'll hang unto them for sentimental reasons and once in a while it probably wouldn't do alot of harm if I revisited my past."

The single greatest contribution I can make to the spread of the Gospel is to abandon completely my sins and pleasures and habits of the past and to focus on doing only those things that please Christ and that magnify His Name.

Can you think of anything in your life you should throw into a bonfire?

Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today,

Warmly in Christ

Peter Ramsay

peter@heaven4sure.com