A Time to Act Requires Faith

A Time to Act Requires Faith

Have you ever noticed how God speaks about his children? He calls Abraham a righteous man (James 2:23), and he calls Job blameless and upright (Job 1:10). These are two of numerous examples of people in the Bible who had faith in God and acted out in that faith when God gave them a mission.

Today's devotional is about a man in the book of Acts who we know very little about in his personal life, but what we do know about him is that he lived a life of faith. Today's devotional is about Stephen. We read Stephen's story in Acts 6-7. Here are some things we do know:

1. He was one of seven chosen to distribute food to widows in the early church
2. Acts 6:5 tells us that he was a faithful man and full of the Holy Spirit
3. He was a Hellenistic Jew
4. He was full of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:8-10)

Stephen had a good reputation and a strong faith in God that he needed to rely on. In Acts 7, Stephen spoke to the Sanhedrin and gave a beautiful summary of God's faithfulness in the Old Testament. He told the stories of great Old Testament leaders like Abraham and Moses and showed how they fulfilled God's plan. This speech angered the Sanhedrin, which led to them stoning Stephen to death.

How does Stephen show us that we must have strong faith when it comes time to act?

Stephen was the first Christian martyr. He died while preaching what he believed. His final words are recorded in Acts 7:60, when he cried out to God and asked Him not to hold the people's sin against them. Even in the face of death, Stephen focused on Heaven and God's forgiving grace.

You may not find yourself in Stephen's position and have angry religious leaders pelting you with heavy stones until you die. But, one day, you may have to defend your faith in God. It is easy to think that we would defend God and what we believe. But it can be hard to tell exactly what we will do when persecution comes.

People like Stephen exemplify what it means to keep our faith in God, even when persecution is staring us in the face. We are faced with a choice on how to respond to persecution. Stephen's story in Acts 6 and 7 provides us with an example of what we could do during persecution: have faith when it is time to act.

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