Be the Cause

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

 BE THE CAUSE

Acts 4:21-22

21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

NIV

What were the rulers, elders, and the teachers of the law going to do? They were supposed to be the spiritual leaders of Israel and here because of the healing of this lame man, all the people were praising God, the God this Sanhedrin was supposed to be leading the people in obedience to. How could they punish Peter and John in light of all the people praising God because of what Peter and John had done? It was obvious Peter and John were men of God, used by God to heal a man that had been lame for over forty years. Yet the rulers, elders, and the teachers of the law in private, out of the sight of all the people threatened both Peter and John never to speak about this Jesus again to the people. We are not sure what exactly their threats were, what they were going to do to Peter and John if they continued to talk about Jesus, but we can be sure it was not something good. So what is our life lesson in this exchange, in this threat and possible punishment for obeying God, rather than man? Once again we are faced with being obedient to God, rather than men. Once again we can see that some people are not wanting to be a part of the moving of the Holy Spirit, maybe some of them are even part of the leadership of churches, of denominations, as the Sanhedrin were. But we can also see that we must not allow ourselves to get caught up in this kind of thinking. We must allow the Spirit to move freely in our lives, even if it causes some to threaten us, because it will also cause many to praise God. If we are living in the miraculous, if we are living as willing vessels to be used in a miraculous way, there will be some who will threaten us in some way, but there should be many who will praise God, and hopefully some of that many will be people who have never praised God before. Surely the Spirit has given the body of Christ gifts which he intends for us to exhibit in our lives as he empowers. But if we exhibit some of those gifts in the wrong assembly of believers we might find ourselves being threatened not to use those gifts, because this denomination does not believe in them, or that they are for today. But if we lived in the Spirit and were used in miraculous ways, no matter how many threats there might be, many people would be praising God. Is this not our calling, to bring people to Jesus? Is this not the reason the Spirit flows through us? Is this not the reason for all the gifts, so that people will see the power of God at work in his people, and turn from their wicked ways, and praise God? If all we ever say, is that God loves you and expect people to leave their wicked ways, we might be losing the battle. God is a God of miracles, A God who works in the miraculous, A God who has sent the Holy Spirit to gift and empower us with the miraculous, let us pay no attention to any threats, let us be people who cause many to praise God. Let us be the cause.