David Bahn - Reflections

You don't have to sell someone a bill of goods. You don't have to know all the answers. You just need to be a friend who is willing to let someone know that there is a place where they can hear of God's grace and love, that honors Jesus and his truth, and where the Holy Spirit is at work. When people do that, the word gets out, Jesus gets the glory and people get saved.

You don't have to sell someone a bill of goods. You don't have to know all the answers. You just need to be a friend who is willing to let someone know that there is a place where they can hear of God's grace and love, that honors Jesus and his truth, and where the Holy Spirit is at work. When people do that, the word gets out, Jesus gets the glory and people get saved.

Whether we crave attention, credit, or glory, we all struggle with this temptation of self-idolatry. Thank God for examples like Peter and for a Savior like Jesus. Give him the glory. For some of his most important work is that which he does in people's hearts who awaken to this danger and seek again to bring him the glory that only he deserves.

Perhaps your life is going well. Praise God and rejoice in the Good News of Jesus. Things in your life may not be going well now. Praise God and rejoice in the Good News of Jesus. Even when the news is bad the Good News of Jesus is still good!

When Stephen died, Luke tells us, "Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning." They mourned because death is bad. It is no friend. But they did not mourn without hope. Stephen was not given over to eternal death. Stephen's died confessing Jesus as Lord, and standing at the right hand of God. Jesus had conquered death. Still an enemy, it does not have the final say. 

For those who are in Christ, death is no friend. But death ends. We may rightly mourn when a loved one dies. But we look beyond death to an eternity of joy, peace, and glorious life.

Evil will always ultimately collapse under its own weight. Truth prevails. Even when evil fights dirty, it will not win the war. Saul will find that out soon enough. So the next time you are tempted to fight dirty, think again. If you have truth and the high moral ground you will prevail. I firmly believe that. I wish more of God’s people did. Do you?

Now it seems God is using the times of affluence and peace to allow us to support those who are facing persecution and hardship for their faith. There may not be anyone today like Saul of Tarsus, or Emperor Diocletian. And the golden age of the church in America seems to have passed. But God will not coerce. he wants conviction not compliance. He desires that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That happens as God's people share the message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

PS: For an interesting article on Constantine's influence on the Christian Church, check out this website, or paste the link below into your browser.

https://wearefaith.org/blog/constantines-influence-on-the-church/

There may be someone you know for whom you are praying. You pray that they would repent and believe in Jesus. You pray that they would come to faith. To that I say, keep praying! Look at Saul. He agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. He is no lover of Jesus. He is determined to bring Jesus' followers to jail. He will squash this nascent band of brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Or so he thinks. It won't be long that his life will dramatically change. He will be converted. So keep praying for that wayward child, that troublesome coworker, that critical neighbor. And watch. It may take a while, and things might look very bad. But God hears our prayers. And the bigger they are... Well, you know how that saying ends!

We don't really know much about the life of the world to come. We get glimpses in Revelation 21, Jesus' teachings about the Kingdom of God as a wedding banquet, Paul's mention of being taken up to the seventh heaven (whatever that means), and this account of Stephen's vision. We do know that Jesus has conquered death for us, and promises life in the world to come. We see all this with the eyes of faith.

Check out MercyMe's song, I Can Only Imagine

https://youtu.be/ZNDEyxEMNp0?si=E_DQ3BsTqfnJ-ajK

God's mercy, grace, and forgiveness grows ever more precious to me as I age. It's not so much that I feel like I'm staring death in the face. But it is a deepening awareness of how desperately I need God's forgiveness and the righteousness of Christ Jesus. 

That became very real and personal to me at that Bible study when I shared Walter Wangerin's Ragman parable. As I was reading it to the few people who were there, I could barely keep from weeping. It was so emotional. And this is the wonder of it all for me: to think that someone so good, so powerful, so strong, so gracious should seek me out an offer me his better clothing touches a place deep in my heart.

When I fall asleep at the end of my life, I look forward to waking up and seeing the my ugly rags shining for cleanness because he died for my sins, and yours, and the world's. And his  resurrection fully vindicates all who put their faith in him.