Sunday, January 29
Can’t keep quiet
Scripture: Exodus 7-8, Psalm 13, Acts 4
(I got my wires crossed and read Acts 5 yesterday instead of Acts 4…so today I’m going back and reading Acts 4.)
Acts 4:19–20 But Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right before God to obey you rather than God, you decide, 20 for it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”
Observation
The Jewish authorities commanded the apostles to stop speaking about Jesus. This was their response: we must obey God rather than you, and it is impossible for us not to speak about what we’ve seen and heard. We can’t stop speaking about it. We can’t keep quiet.
They were witnesses to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The one thing required of a witness is to speak up—tell the truth, tell what you’ve seen and heard. They couldn’t keep quiet.
Application
We too are witnesses of Jesus. Not in the same sense as they who were eyewitnesses of Jesus in the flesh. We witness to what we know, what we’ve experienced, what we’ve seen and heard—we tell our story. And we witness to the apostolic testimony—we tell the story of Jesus as it has been faithfully handed down to us.
And like them, as witnesses, it is impossible for us not to speak. We can’t keep quiet.
The gospel spread now as then, from person to person as we tell the story. People need to know and the only way they’ll know is if we speak up.
Today, I’m praying for opportunities to tell the story, to be Jesus’ witness. And I’m praying for that same sense of “must-ness”—I must share the story, it’s impossible not to speak. I can’t keep quiet.
Prayer: I love you Lord. Please let that love and conviction overflow into boldly sharing your story with anyone who will listen. Give me that boldness and “must-ness.”