Magic Madness

God reveals things to us that through passages that are sometimes off the beaten path. Do you remember the passage in Acts 8 about Simon the Magician? You may or may not. He doesn't get a lot of attention. But God reveals interesting things when you carefully and slowly read through passages.

Here's the skinny - Simon was a magician, a sorcerer, in Samaria. He tapped into powers that were unholy. But he believed the good news, the gospel, when Phillip came to town and was preaching. Simon believed and was baptized and went with Phillip.

But just a few verses later, it's revealed that he still had it all wrong - he wanted the holy powers of the disciples for himself, and wanted to pay for it with money.

Peter reprimanded him and spoke truth by saying (in verses 20-23)...

"May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God's gift can be bought! You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God. Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts, for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin."

This is just an example of how belief and baptism aren't the end of the road. This story is a good example of how even a person who believes, and thus gets baptized by some of the greatest evangelists of the time - still have work to do; still have a faith journey to travel and kinks to work out.

Therefore, we can't rest and think we have it all together simply because we may have declared Christ as Lord. We need to undergird it with continued study of the word to grow and protect the truth in our lives.

Here's some interesting food for thought...

Do you think Simon never had his heart in the right place, but had ulterior motives the whole time?

OR

Do you think he did have his heart right before God, was baptized in the spirit, but fell short as we all do sometimes?