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It’s hard to believe that another year is drawing to a close. And yes, what a year it has been! Some of the major wordsmiths are using singular words such as these to describe 2021: vaccine, insurrection, perseverance, variant, woke, “wokelash” – and the most recent addition – “omnicron.” (Feel free to search any of the words you may not be sure about.)
Most of the words, just like those in years past, tend to focus on the events we find swirling around us – in many ways, like a whirlpool – seeking to suck us in and draw us under. Given the fact that those are the subjects that are most often in the forefront of the news we hear and the conversations we have, it is no wonder that our gazes can easily be redirected from where they need to be.
When our gazes are redirected downward, it is also no wonder that a recent Barna survey indicated that among millennial women 47% are anxious, 45% are fearful about the future, and 33% are sad or depressed. Though the results among millennial men were slightly less, they followed the same trend.
i have recently been reading in the Book of Acts about Stephen, and i believe there is an important word of truth for us in this hour. You will recall he is one of those who was selected by the Jerusalem church to serve the needs of the widows within their community of faith.(1) Since that is our first introduction to Stephen, we are also told that he was a man “full of faith and the Holy Spirit”(2) and “full of God’s grace and power”(3) – the former being the cause and the latter being the effect.
As we continue to read through the rest of chapters 6 and 7 in Acts, we see that being full of grace, Stephen boldly declared truth. i fear that we today have in some ways bought into a lie about a false grace that declares “live and let live”. We have become confused into thinking that if we are standing up for truth, we are being judgmental and “grace-less”. As Stephen’s life reflects, nothing could be further from the truth!
He was surrounded by a group of religious thinkers of the day. Many of whom were the leaders who had rejected Jesus. They were controlled by their own selfish ambitions and had become fearful that the truth He proclaimed threatened their positions, their power, and their very way of life. Their fears and anxieties had quickly turned into bitterness and hatred – toward Jesus and toward anyone who followed Him.
Recognizing their state of mind – and state of heart – Stephen recounted God’s promises from the days of Abraham through the days of the prophets, and all God had done to draw the people of Israel to Himself.(4)Ultimately Stephen confronted them with the reality that they had rejected God’s promises from every prophet that God sent to them, including Jesus – whom this very group had murdered.(5)
He confronted the high council with the reality that they had disobeyed the very Word of God that through their position they were charged to honor and guard. They had so compromised the truth that they had crucified the One who was the personification of God’s grace and truth.(6) Instead of seeking and worshiping their Creator, they had created a god in their own image that they now served. They had molded and shaped their god to fit the circumstances that surrounded them as they perceived them to be. Their gaze had become so turned from God that they no longer recognized His truth – or His Person. Instead their god became their tradition, their position and their misguided power. Stephen was by no means preaching a message of “live and let live,” he was confronting them with the truth of God’s Word.
And, no, it wasn’t popular. The Jewish leaders were infuriated. They literally shook their fists at him in rage. If it had occurred today, they would have accused him of being intolerant. But Stephen, because he was full of the Holy Spirit, did not divert his gaze to their rage or back down from his mission. He kept gazing upward toward heaven with His eyes on the glory of God and his faith directed toward the Son of God. And he told them exactly what he was seeing.
He chose to go right on speaking the truth when he knew that it would cost him his life. He chose to die rather than not speak the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God. He chose to honor the One, rather than the crowd. The Jewish leaders killed him in their feeble attempt to silence the truth. They saw it as so threatening that it was better to kill a good man than to let this truth be spread. They had thought when they murdered Jesus that they were squashing the truth. And they had been wrong! Now, they were again making the same mistake. They thought that by stoning Stephen they would silence the truth, but they had underestimated God’s plan. Stephen was to be the catalyst that triggered an explosive growth of the church. It was his martyrdom that scattered the believers to the ends of the earth.(7) In the midst of it all, Stephen kept gazing upward full of grace and truth, as the religious crowd around him kept gazing downward, denying truth and attempting to silence it.
So, as we prepare to enter into a new year and bid 2021 farewell, i think it’s appropriate to ask ourselves the question: will we orient our gaze on the noise that surrounds us, or will we turn our gaze upward and speak words of truth to those around us? This may be the very moment that God has ordained for His grace and truth to be proclaimed through our lives and revealed through the power of His Holy Spirit. An anxious, fearful and depressed world needs to hear it … and see it!
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This post is adapted from Until He Returns, chapter 20, entitled “Keep Gazing Upward.” This sixth book in the Lessons Learned In The Wilderness series is available through Amazon in print or for your e-reader. CLICK HERE for more information on how you can obtain your copy of the book.
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(1) Acts 6:1-6
(2) Acts 6:5
(3) Acts 6:8
(4) Acts 7:1-50
(5) Acts 7:51-53
(6) John 1:14
(7) Acts 8:1
Copyright © 2021 Kenneth A. Winter All rights reserved.
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