Saturday 17 May 2014

May 17: Acts 7:54-60

Key Verse: Acts 7:55
But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God

Devotion:
Stephen was willing to turn his eyes away from the world and look toward God with love and blessings. Stephen was facing a mob who just did not want to listen to anything he had to say. They had rejected Christ and they did not want to hear anything that would dissuade them otherwise! Isn’t that just how we get when we want to look the other way; we blinker our vision so that we do not see anything other than what we want to see.

Stephen was steadfast and looked up to God knowing that as he did so, the crown would get carried away and he would face their wrath. He did not hold back the truth of that moment but told it out loud for all to hear. The people knew it was the truth but refused to accept it otherwise they would have to accept and follow that truth. Instead they wanted to continue living their lies and covering up anything that was good – how else could they continue in their sin?

We face those choices every day, though not quite as drastic! We face the choice of carrying on in evil or turning our backs on it to look toward God and righteousness. It is our lot to choose the truth and follow our Saviour and not our polluted minds. Stephen was accepting, upholding and trying to explain that truth he saw; but everyone else was rejecting it.

The price he paid for standing up to the truth was absolute and spelled his demise. It was not a case of some people turning against him but everyone turning against him at the same time. How can we ignore the truth if one person would stand up and proclaim the truth? God wants one person to stand up and knows that others will follow. He sent His Son to explain things so that one person would stop and listen. We make changes by starting one step at a time!

Points to Ponder:
Do you expect to overturn the world?

Have you tried one pebble at a time?