Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Obedience, Provision
- Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity. Our true identity comes only from Father.
- Provision: God gives us what we truly need. God knows our needs better than we can know them. We learn to trust God to provide for us.
This chapter is a very high challenge chapter. Here we have a story of a person who stepped
up to do the work of God and dies for it.
It is actually a reminder that all but two of Jesus’ own disciples died
as a direct consequence of proclaiming their faith. Judas, who hanged himself, and John, who was
exiled to Patmos because of his faith, are the only two who did not directly die
in martyrdom for Jesus.
This is fundamentally a question of obedience. Stephen is willing to speak the truth and not
just lose his livelihood but his whole life!
He is willing to give up everything to gain his eternal life. He is obedient even when everyone around him
rejects his message.
In the theological commentary to which I linked above, I actually
drawn a neat conclusion that I’d like to reflect here. The comments between Tom and I are also quite
insightful. Recognizing just how high
challenge this chapter is, I can’t help but wonder why I don’t speak truth more
often as Stephen does. I wonder how much
obedience is tied to the idea of provision.
If I truly believed in God’s ability to provide for me what I truly need,
would I be more willing to sacrifice more in my life? Or, as it is stated in the comments on the
theological commentary, what does it mean that I would give up my whole life
easily but struggle with giving up my comfort while continuing to live? How much does my ability to obey connect with
my faith in God’s ability to provide?
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