“Peter answered: ‘May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.’ Then Simon (the sorcerer) answered, ‘Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.’” (Acts 8:20-24)

Money is what is mainly on Simon’s mind. Clearly, he is not being drawn by the Holy Spirit to a trust in Jesus but rather is following his natural desire for money, his real god. Peter sees this and warns Simon, but we have no idea if he ever does repent and become a follower of Jesus. His heart is simply in another place and does not appear open to repentance. This said, there are many legends about Simon. In some he converts. In others he opposes Peter and Paul. All are very fanciful and not worth considering. He is a lost soul at this point.

There will always be those who wish to use Jesus or Christianity for their own gain. We can pray for these like Peter did, that they repent. Sometimes the grip of the world and money are so strong that a person is hard to save. Yet, we never count out that possibility. Only God knows who can and will be saved. He sees the heart and knows. He knows our heart. That is all that counts. Do we love Jesus?

Heavenly Father, we love Your Son! He is our All in All. We have gotten to our faith in Him through Your wonderful touch with the Holy Spirit. We rejoice in being part of Your Forever Family and pray for those who are at risk of missing it.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pastor Robert Forsberg is retired from Light of Christ Lutheran Church in Fairborn.