Have you heard the one about...?

Today's Reading: Acts 4:1-20

Have you been to a new restaurant in town lately? Or how about seen a great movie, read a good book, or gotten hooked on the latest TV show? Who did you tell? Sometimes when we find something really cool in our world, we can't wait to share it with our friends.

I mentioned in another blog post this week that I've been studying Acts this summer. This story about Peter and John is striking for many reasons, but right near the end, I was very convicted about my own walk with God. 

Peter and John have been preaching and teaching about the resurrection of Jesus. They have healed a crippled beggar at the gate called Beautiful and they have gotten the religious leaders of the day riled up. Peter and John are seized and jailed and the next morning are taken before the Sanhedrin. There they preach a sermon to these learned men...a sermon about Jesus and how they had Him crucified and now He is at the right hand of God. In verse 12 Peter says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." 

The Sanhedrin realizes they can say nothing about what the apostles have done so they try the bound-to-work tactic of telling Peter and John just to stop talking about Jesus. Yeah right. Like that's gonna work!

In fact Peter tells them, "We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." 

Right there is where I felt the conviction. Peter and John and the other apostles were so convinced about Jesus that they couldn't shut up about it. In the face of very real threats and persecution, they kept on talking. My relationship with God needs to be the same. It needs to be such a powerful force in my life that I can't help but share the story with those around me.

Better than any new restaurant, book, or movie. This story is the one that someone out there needs to hear. Will you walk so closely with the Father than you cannot help speaking about what you have seen and heard?

- Holly Barrett