Good Morning Friends,
Gamaliel was a giant among the legal minds of his day—cultured, educated, respected. Yet in Acts he appears only briefly, a fading ember beside the blazing torches Peter and Paul would become. Still, he plays the role we desperately lack today: the wise elder. He reminds us that sometimes restraint is wisdom, that acting and deciding are not the same thing, and that love’s patience can be a holy posture. Yet faith also requires action, and on these two hinges—waiting and acting—the disciples’ lives turn, as do ours.
In the unfolding story, the walls of Jerusalem’s resistance were beginning to crumble, much like Jericho’s walls once did. Those who cling to sin are always in danger of collapse. We face the same temptations today, along with countless “snake‑oil” solutions that promise much and deliver little. The deeper issue is our motivation—whether academic, emotional, temporal, or eternal—and whether we confess Jesus as both Lord and Savior in word and deed. So the question stands: Are you following Jesus for the best of reasons?
Scripture Summaries
Acts 5:34–42 Gamaliel advises the council to pause before acting against the apostles. Movements born of human ambition always fail, he says, but if something is from God, no one can stop it. The apostles are flogged and warned, yet they rejoice and continue preaching Christ daily.
John 6:1–15 A massive crowd follows Jesus seeking healing and food. With a boy’s small lunch, Jesus feeds thousands, revealing both compassion and divine identity. When the crowd tries to make Him king for earthly reasons, He withdraws.
Psalm 27 David declares the Lord as his light and salvation. Even surrounded by enemies, he chooses confidence, seeking God’s presence and waiting with courage.
Joshua 6:15–17 On the seventh day, Israel circles Jericho seven times. At Joshua’s command, the people shout, the walls fall, and the city is taken—except for Rahab, who is spared for her faithfulness.
Message: Maybe there is no wrong reason to begin following Jesus—but there are certainly better ones. Motivation matters. Fear of destruction or hunger may draw us, but the deeper work is seeing clearly what God does and what we do. Like Jericho’s walls, the scales on our eyes must fall.The feeding of the 5,000 shows how God multiplies what we surrender. A boy’s small lunch becomes a feast. Bread points to the Bread of Life; fish—ichthus—whispers the identity of Jesus: Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior. The miracle reveals how the church must grow: everyone fed, everyone included, even the fragments gathered so nothing is lost. Jesus cares about the broken pieces too. The crowd came for temporal needs—healing and food—not repentance, truth, or the Kingdom. The religious leaders, likewise, rejected the miracle workers even while acknowledging the miracles. But this sign appears in all four Gospels because it reveals Jesus’ identity as fully God and fully man, preparing us for the greater miracle of the cross.
And So, our calling is to act in faith even when uncertain, to stay calm in the storm, to keep our eyes on Christ. And always, to examine our motivations.
Pray we realize Jesus is enough. Pray that we see what truly needs conquering. Pray that our inadequacy makes room for God’s sufficiency. Pray we surrender every fragment of our lives to His use. Pray that we choose not only the right decisions but the right actions. Pray we give what we have to Jesus. Pray we remember: if our work is merely human, it will fail—but if it is of God, nothing can stop it. Pray we are not found resisting God. Pray we offer our little light as God does a new thing—baptizing with Spirit and fire until the walls come down.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 