Even more than exciting, it's convicting to read as well. Seriously. When's the last time you saw a miracle? Not that they don't happen - I believe they still do - but it's not an every day occurrence like seems to be the case in Acts. So while the passionate, Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching side of me loves to read the book of Acts, at the same time my complacent, comfortable-where-I-am, safety-seeking side doesn't like to read it at all. Conflict of interests...
Stephen is the man I encountered in today's reading. If there was ever a person to make me feel convicted about how I currently live my life, it's Stephen. He was "full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people." He was called to the synagogue for a little argument and "they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking." Talk about a man who is on fire for Christ! He so frustrated the Hellenistic Jews who confronted him that they had to call in people to give false testimony about him just so that they could have something to hold against him. As sad as it makes me to see people so against this man, it is absolutely an example worth living up to. I hope all believers today come to the point where they would be a modern day Stephen in the face of persecution.
One thing I noticed about Stephen that I just had to write down (before I forget!) - he is described as "full of grace and power." Not "half full". Not "half empty". Not "a few little drops at the bottom of the cup that's mostly backwash anyway". FULL. As in, "if you touch this cup water is spilling out" full. If I were writing the book of Acts, this is how I would have phrased it:
"Stephen was so full of the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit that there was no room left inside of him for petty personal preferences or selfish ambitions or any desires that might take him away from the work that the Lord had for him to do here on this earth."It took me reading this passage a couple of times before I got it, but once I did...well, let's just say I have a lot of work to do. Let me rephrase, God has a lot of work left to do in me. There's no way I can do this on my own. There's no way I can fill myself with the power of God to the point of overflowing. That's a work only He can do. But it's a work that I desperately need Him to do.
Father, fill me up. To overflowing. Fill up the Church. Help us spill out all over the world so that people will know and worship the name of Christ.
