Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
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.
Acts 4:8-13 NKJV
How often or how rarely do people see the example of our good deeds and bold proclamation of Christ? Is it so much that they must marvel and realize that we have been with Christ?
Or do we look so similar to the world, that it is hard to tell if there is any faint glimmer or touch of Christ in us at all?
When we see a man or woman in need, is our thought whether or not our good deeds will result in any change or consequence, whether it will appear that we’ve done good or bad when measured and weighed by the scale of the religious and legal minded?
Or are we eager to show love and tell them that we serve them and love them because Christ first served and loved us?
Do we stand firm against those temple builders – those blind religious leaders leading the blind into destruction – who have turned their backs to the cornerstone, to that perfect stone set forth as our example, because their eyes could not see what their hearts could not comprehend?
Are our lives evidence of having more concern about being judged by men today than about being judged by God – foolishly saying things like “only God can judge me” as we laugh in His face doing the very things that please men and not God?
Do we really love God?
Will we love Him today, by serving and loving our fellow man?
Will we look for the opportunities to make ourselves seem foolish and peculiar today for the purposes of God, not caring what the world thinks or says about us?
Is He worth it to us?
We were worth the cross to Him.
Harold J. Ballinger 