Boldness

The more I study the gospels the more I realize one thing in particular. Jesus did and said things that no one would dare do or say. He was a "jaw-dropper". The boldness with which He would proclaim the truth and the situations in which He found Himself in was handled with poise and power. What really interests me, is that the early church, possessed that same mentality. Peter and John were called before the Jewish leaders for healing a forty-year old lame man who had been begging for alms outside the temple for probably the better part of his life. The leaders wanted to know by what power they had healed this man. Now, mind you, these are the very leaders that Christ would have appeared before during His trial and crucifixion. The passage continues and declares that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and he said the following: "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by Him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation by no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Can you picture the jaws drop? These are the same men who days earlier had fled in fear of these very leaders. Something had changed. These men were different. Not only were not running in fear, but they were standing defiant to the religious leaders of their day. The leaders were so dumbfounded that they couldn't find any fault in Peter and John for healing the man. They wrap the meeting up and tell them that they are not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.

I love Peter and John's rebuttal. "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."

I want that boldness! In the face of opposition and possible persecution, Peter and John felt so strongly about the truth that they had no choice but to continue to live and proclaim. They continued to meet in the temple and the church continued to grow. The apostles truly had become like their Master. Jesus didn't back down to the leaders and neither did His disciples at this time. I pray that I will be faithful to do the same.

Late night rantings and mutterings.

Well, well, it's 2AM and I just got home from work. I hate it when I get home this late and have to get up for an 8 o'clock class. I'm so stinkin' wired right now it's ridiculous. It's like trying to come off a high or something. Not that I would know what that's like. I believe I did have a coffee hang over once. Me and three other friends drank three 12 cup pots in like three hours. I woke up the next morning and I was still jittery. So, what do we do? Make more coffee of course. I guess it's like the saying goes--"drinking yourself sober." I quit drinking coffee two weeks ago--cold turkey. I had to undergo some very intensive cardio tests on my heart. I got the final results in from the nuclear stress test yesterday. It was negative. Yes! Something just doesn't sound right about injecting anything "nuclear" into your body. Probably causes cancer, or, better yet--a nuclear spontaneous combustion. That would be going out with a "bang"--punn intended. Anyways, back to coffee. Yes, good 'ol coffee. Like I said, I quit cold turkey two weeks ago, but I started back up this morning. It tasted soo good. It's like an alcoholic relapsing. It only takes that one drop on your tongue and all hades breaks loose. I think I'm a full fledged coffee addict. Oh yeah, how can I forget. Graduation is exactly one month away from yesterday. Can you believe it? I'm actually going to be walking down that aisle. That's sounds scary. Me, walking down an aisle? Like I'm getting married or something. Anyways, it'll be a short-lived ceremony--the graduation, of course, not the wedding. And I'm not getting married as of today. So, I have to leave for Colorado the afternoon of my graduation. Staff training starts that Monday and it takes a solid twenty-four hours to get out there. I think I'm actually already there vicariously. My mind is at least. I can't wait to hit the trail and strap on the snow shoes and get sun poisoning. Wait, did I just say sun poisoning? I don't want that! Last year my lips got torched and my neck peeled twice because it was so burned. I never wore chap stick until that point. I literally looked like I had spent a month on Everest. It was disgusting. I hope my lips never get sunburned again.

Well, I'm getting tired now, so I think I'm going to try to grab some Z's. Night!

Follower

Today in chapel the speaker spoke on a passage that I am very familiar with, but hadn't meditated on in a while. In Luke 14 Jesus addresses his followers and procedes to give them a challenge on the cost of being his disciple. He first addresses the issue of people or family. He says that unless you hate you father and mother, brothers and sisters, you cannot be my disciple. Now, I know some of you are thinking that can't be. What in the world is Jesus talking about here. Being a disciple of Christ is a high calling. I believe what He was trying to get at was that if you hold anything in a higher place of importance or priority to the point that you are not willing to follow Him, then you are not worthy to be called His disciple.

I believe we have done ourselves a disservice by not understanding the Jewish mindset and culture in the time of Christ. To become a disciple of a rabbi was the ultimate achievement of any young Jewish boy. It was a life-time commitment in which he would leave all that he knew to live and study and seek to model their lifes and teachings after the rabbi who chose them. You see, Jewish boys would study in a synagogue until they were around the age of fourteen. At that time they would present themselves before a rabbi and the rabbi would drill the young boy in all the interpretations and teachings of Torah. After this took place, he would either be deemed worthy or unworthy to follow or become the disciple of that rabbi.

If the boy was found unworthy, then he would go home and begin learning a family trade. To have a rabbi choose you meant that he believed that you had what it took to become his disciple. Think about this in light of what Christ has done for us. We as believers have been called to be his disciples. He believes that we have what it takes. Not only that, but he has commanded us to make disciples. If we are going to be effective in this life, we must begin looking at people not for what they are, but for what they can become in Christ. We must believe that by the grace of God they do have what it takes to be His disciple.

I know this is just a short breakdown, but it was a fresh reminder to me to do more and to stop holding back.