Mon., 8/10/15 Devotion (Acts 28:22b)

Today's encouragement comes from Acts 28:22b, where we read these words:

" . . . For concerning this sect [Christianity], we know that it is spoken against everywhere."

Have we ever wondered why the *best* people and things in the world are so often "spoken against everywhere"? Why would Jesus Christ be spoken against? Why would His true church be spoken against? Why would His choicest saints (like John Calvin and/or the Puritans, for example) be spoken against?

The reason is because the Lord Jesus Himself, His faithful church, and the most godly (influential) saints all reprove sin. And sinners do not like this. This is why the world esteems people that do not deserve it; and belittles all those that do. Christ Himself said it best, in Lk. 6:26: "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets."

[Puritan quote of the day: "The Spirit of adoption is a pledge and earnest of the whole inheritance . . . “ —William Bridge, in, "A Lifting Up for the Down-cast"]