In Acts, chapter four, we see again very clearly that the powers of this earth, even the religious leaders, did not welcome the message of Jesus now being shared by his apostles. This chapter always gives me pause as I reflect on the hearts and motivations of our leaders even today. While on one hand, I have to hope that each leader (and I suppose the case could be made that we are all leaders, but here I mean our societal leaders) is driven by a desire to serve rather than to be served, by an intentional giving rather than a secretive taking, and by a love of others rather than a love of self; on the other hand, I am often concerned that the opposite is true for many of our leaders. I worry that our leaders are sometimes secretly driven by self-interest, greed or a hunger for power.
Even fear of change can keep us from recognizing and accepting the promises of Christ.
But look at the contrast between the community of leaders who are threatened by Jesus' message and the community led by Peter, John and the other apostles.
While one community stubbornly refused, each for his own reasons, to accept that Jesus was the son of God and the long awaited Messiah, the other embraced the news and the demonstrations of proof meant to illustrate the truth of it. And because they made the choice to believe in Jesus, members of the young Christian community began to live very different lives. They began to pray differently as well:
Lord God, even in these most difficult and frightening times, please speak your words through us, your servants, by the gifts of your Holy Spirit and in the name of your son, Jesus.
Who doesn't know deep in his heart that you are alive and you direct all that is? You have given each of us this knowledge, even those of us who resist it and push against it. Let each of us, who knows in his heart that there is a God, be open to your son Jesus, his message of love, and his promise of salvation.
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