passionate boldness
June 18, 2009
READ: Acts 4:5-13
When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, . . . they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. —Acts 4:13
A young man was preaching to the passersby in Hounslow, on the outskirts of London, England. Most ignored him, a few ridiculed, and several stopped to listen. But regardless of the reaction of the people, he was undeterred. With a strong voice and clear resolve, he poured out his heart—not with the words of an angry prophet, but with deep concern for the men and women on that street. His eyes, facial expressions, and tone of voice revealed an attitude of compassion, not condemnation. In it all, he boldly shared the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
In Acts 4, when the church was still new, Peter and John also boldly addressed the people of their generation. The response of the leaders of their day? “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (v.13). That boldness was not the fruit of ministerial training but of much time spent in the presence of the Master. As a result, they had become passionate about what concerned Christ—the eternal destiny of men and women.
That same passionate boldness was on the face of the young man in Hounslow. Do people see it in us? — Bill Crowder
A Christian is an ambassador who speaks for the King of kings.
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By MeL Scribe, Australia
How can we find the strength to forgive?
On the cross, Jesus prayed with his dying breath, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This man, who had done no wrong in his life, had every right to demand their destruction, and every power to carry out their sentences justly. They wanted him dead, and they accomplished it, but instead of cursing them, this innocent man chose to plead for their souls, hard as their hearts were against him. Who is this Jesus guy? Why should I care about what he did or said? Maybe he was an important man, sure, but why should I be concerned with him? Yes I’ve heard of him somewhere sometime, but why should he worry me? So what if he’s such a controversial man?
Well, it looks like you missed the bit about his never doing anything wrong in his life. That’s only comprehensible if you believe that Jesus is God. There! I should have said this earlier, and it’s taken me so long to say so, but we both needed a chance to warm up to each other and to the topic at hand. Because Jesus is God, He is perfect. Everything about Him is perfect.
The road to self-discovery starts here, my friend. Either you can choose to completely reject all I have written to you and keep living your own way, or you can live this new and better life, giving God control over your life, which He already has, anyway. That’s right. Control over your life. God won’t bring you to anything you can’t get through, and He’s not going to completely and utterly annihilate you because He loves you.
Am I going too fast for you to catch onto me? I’ll strain out my ramblings. God loves you, more than anything you can possibly imagine. Well, unless you can imagine someone sending his or her son to hell to save you, which is what God sent Jesus to do, then yeah. Why would He do that? Because we have all rejected God and pushed Him away because we didn’t want Him in our lives—that is the one thing He can’t forgive. We deserve the death sentence, and to be separated from God for the rest of eternity, but Jesus took our sentence on Himself when He died for us on that cross. Every wrong thing you have ever done can be forgiven—if only you believe it.
So, you can choose to reject God for who He is and what control He actually has over your life and ignore His love for you, try to run your life in your own haphazard way, and face the consequences of being condemned by God and facing death and judgement, which I know isn’t going to be pretty. Or you can choose to submit to Jesus as your ruler, rely on His death and coming back to life, and be forgiven by God and receive His gift of eternal life.
If you want to know more, you should—you guessed it—start going to a church near you, where you can learn more about Christianity.
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Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own (v.15).
READ: Luke 12:13-21
David Wayne Sharpton, 54, has won the Georgia lottery three times—raking in $350,000 in 2004, $1 million in 2005, and $2.5 million in 2007. The repeat winner continues to work at his job as a restaurant-oven repairman, even though his winnings have provided more than enough money for him to retire. “Am I the luckiest man alive?” he asks. “I suppose so. I’ve got a pretty good circle of friends, a wonderful job, and a beautiful wife.”
Now that’s a guy who is not drunk with the elixirs of wealth and greed. His feet are still set firmly on the ground. The same, however, cannot be said of the rich farmer in Luke 12.
Valuing wealth correctly and the disastrous results of greed were the themes in Jesus’ parable of the rich fool. The farmer misjudged what was truly valuable in life. He thought having possessions was more important than great relationships with God and people (v.21). He chose wrongly about what was truly valuable in life and became a slave to what he valued most—things that could be stolen, eaten up, and destroyed (Matthew 6:19-21), and things he couldn’t take with him when he died (1 Timothy 6:7).
The farmer misjudged who truly owned his possessions. He used the personal pronouns I, me, and myself a total of 12 times in this brief story. He forgot that he was a manager and not an owner. He also failed to grasp the brevity of life. At the height of his fortune, God judged him and he died—leaving it all behind. What a tragic ending!
Two masters—God and money—are vying for our allegiance. Let’s be on guard and judge correctly—choosing to serve and obey the One who created the other. —Marvin Williams
Why is it important to acknowledge that God owns everything? What part of your lifestyle do you need to change in order to be rich toward God?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
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