Acts 7
Acts 7 records Stephen’s defence of faith in Jesus before the religious council. Stephen shows his knowledge of teh faith of his people in the story of God through history. There is a common thread that runs through this – the community’s failure to understand God’s action and the faithfulness of God. Faith continues to grow and God continues to move forward with God’s plan to redeem all people. The religious ones get stuck and when things get tough look to themselves for salvation rather than turning to God. Time and time again it happened…so that when Jesus came, and again pointed to God and what God was doing, the religious ones acted consistently with the past and had Jesus killed. Stephen was expecting nothing less but gave witness to the truth he had experienced in Christ.
I/we need to be students of hsitory and the present and acknowledge that I do the same – that is, I want to be comfortable and so I get stuck and look to myself instead of constantly turning to God for life. God is continuing to work to bring all people to Him through the love of Christ. Stephen’s faith is a challenge to all who would follow Christ. My prayer is for all those who are being persecuted for their faith still today – may they know the peace of God in every moment – AMEN!
