A number of parents hold off giving their babies sugary food until the child’s first birthday. Then they produce a chocolate cake for the big reveal. After a fistful or two eyes light up. Welcome to the wonderful world of sugar! Like the rest of us, the kid will never be the same.

A turn to Jesus often produces a similar hit. A great many people joined the Christian movement in Ephesus. Miracles took place alongside the preaching of Paul, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

Dramatic changes took place, including the repudiation of past lifestyles and practices: Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly.

Burning scrolls out in the open cost these new converts financially—estimates of their value in today’s dollars run into the millions. This fresh faith also carried a social price tag, as friends and family watched the growing bonfire. But the gain of new life in Christ far overwhelmed enslavement to the fear-based religions practiced before.

When people come to Jesus expect a change. Don’t slow them down or temper their enthusiasm. If a new believer feels led to burn past possessions that kept them from the Lord, then hand them a match. In fact, the light of their conversion helps us evaluate things dampening our own eagerness to follow the Lord.

Acts 19 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Wes Hicks