READING: 1 Samuel 6-8, Acts 7
I’m often struck by how hard we work to ignore the gospel. We avoid those who’ve been telling us the gospel. We attend church only until the heat gets too hot. We work hard to come up with our own rationalizations and excuses for rejecting the Good News. We turn more deeply into our sin, hoping the pleasure of sin will push out the conviction of the Spirit. In the end, though, we can’t fully ignore the gospel.
In today’s New Testament reading, the religious leaders listened to Stephen’s tell the story of God’s work through the centuries, but they lost control when he called them “stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears” (Acts 7:51) and accused them of rejecting God and His plan. What strikes me again is how much they did to try to quiet Stephen. They yelled with all their being in an attempt to drown out his words. They covered their ears as a second step to avoid hearing what they thought was Stephen’s blasphemy. Then, they stoned him. They took his life.
But, even in his death, Stephen pointed them to Jesus and prayed for them. He saw the heavens opened and directed them there. No matter what his opponents did, they could not escape the message and the model of the gospel. They would eventually answer to Stephen’s God.
PRAYER: “Father, thank You for not allowing us to outrun the gospel.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Weekend is for catch-up and review