FireAC/Ministry of Fire

¹⁷When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. ¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. ¹⁹A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. ²⁰In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

Yes, these verses may not make much sense to you, but the background is not what I'm focusing on today. If you are interested in reading up, read Acts 19. These few verses are Acts 19:17-20.

You may wonder what God is trying to say from these verses. If I read this verses like last month, maybe I wouldn't have realised the importance. But see, they openly confessed their evil deeds (v.18) and some of them practiced sorcery (v.19). Sorcery is like black magic, evil. It's the opposite of what God is, God does not accept this kind of behaviour.

But again, this is not what I want to say. Maybe this might not have much connection to what the verses say, but I want all of you to remember today that God is forgiving God. Verse 18 said that many who believed came and openly declared their evil deeds. Not all accepted by God were righteous, none of them were in the first place. Moreover, EVIL deeds. Why is evil is emphasised?

I remember that day clearly in my head, the day I read this passage. And that night, I knew that God was a forgiving God, and if we just turned to Him, begging and asking for forgiveness, He will grant it. Because He loves us.