Thursday, September 1, 2011

We Should Fear God More than Man

Today I read Acts 4 which is a continuation of Acts 3 and the healing of the lame man. Peter and John are arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin and asked by what power they performed this miracle. Peter and John boldly declare that it was done by the power of Jesus Christ whom they had set at naught and crucified. The miracle was widely known among the Jews in Jerusalem so the Sanhedrin were afraid to punish Peter and John because they feared the people and their reaction if they did so. So instead they threaten them to not talk about Jesus anymore.

Peter tells them that he will continue to speak the words that God wants him to speak. He goes on to say that he fears God more than those men, which of course is how it should be. We should not fear man more than God, but all too often we do. We don't think about it in those terms, but that is what we are doing when we do not open our mouths to spread His Gospel. When we are worried about how we will be perceived by someone when we have felt the Spirit prompting us to share the Gospel with them, that is fearing man more than God. We need to instead of thinking what will this person think of me, we need to think what will I say when I stand before God and He asks me why I did not do as He asked?

We can be an instrument in God's hands in spreading the Gospel to His children and it is one of the most rewarding experiences you will ever have in this life. Watching your loved ones come into the Gospel is such a wonderful feeling. It is like coming from a dark room into the light and watching someone else make those changes in their life is beyond joyful. The Gospel really is the good news of Christ and we have it. How can we be so selfish to not share it with those around us? If we want to be truly happy, the scriptures tell us that we need to lose our life for His sake, meaning we need to give our lives over to Jesus Christ to serve Him in whatever capacity He needs us. We can take comfort in knowing that whatever Jesus asks of us will be in our best interest and we can have confidence in what He wants us to do.

The rest of the chapter has to do with Peter and John returning to their friends and telling them what has been done and they praise God. It also talks about how the Saints had all things in common but we will save that discussion more for tomorrow when it goes more in depth about it. Until tomorrow.

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