Everyday, believers are to be fed from God’s Word—to eat the true food of God’s love and power. If we do not eat the truth from the Hand of God, we will certainly seek to satisfy our spiritual hunger from this fallen world. Jesus reminds his followers we must, “eat his flesh and drink his blood,” which he uses as a metaphor reminding us our flesh is fallen and we will face death and hell without him (John 6:53). Eating the Truth of Christ is the only way to turn us away from this cursed physical realm to see our most basic need for the One who is spiritually righteous. Yet, pride and spiritual arrogance against God is like an evil root that holds and connects human beings to the dust of the earth. For this reason, God sent his Son to humbly lay down his life and die, so we could make a divine connection to him through faith and begin to learn the Truth.
Pride is such a thief, because it blinds us to the truth of our own deceived hearts. It is the work of Christ to bring divine humiliation; a humbling of our pride so we can accept the Truth of the Lord’s sacrifice and provision of grace. We cannot receive salvation without divine humiliation; otherwise, we will try to justify sin to avoid facing the Truth and receiving his righteousness. When God humbles us it is a blessing, because this humiliation allows us to be his servants filled with grace and love.
Exalting and displaying the Truth is God’s plan for his children. However, human beings filled with pride run to throw stones that publicly injure a person’s dignity. Our political system is suffering “food poisoning,” because, as a nation, we have empowered leaders who have chosen to eat from the dust of the earth rather than consume the heavenly Bread of Life—Jesus. Essentially, the world is demanding its own way and some may think this is progress! Yet, this act of fleshly pride and retaliation is not new and God will deal with it!
In the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen and six other Greek-speaking disciples of Christ are chosen to handle food distribution. Now, Stephen takes this opportunity to speak the Word of God about the Bread the people really need. In doing so, he finds himself in a debate with other religious leaders. Stephen is so passionate about the Truth, because he has been eating from the Hand of God; his loving response and words humiliate other leaders and they retaliate with lies and false accusations. Rather than deal with their pride by focusing on their own corrupt hearts before God, they dig into the earth’s ways—lie—to publicly injure Stephen’s dignity and destroy him. They are a pile of unrighteousness, but they think they are doing God and people a favor.
Acts 6:8-15 VOICE
8 Stephen continually overflowed with extraordinary grace and power, and he was able to perform a number of miraculous signs and wonders in public view. 9 But eventually a group arose to oppose Stephen and the message to which his signs and wonders pointed. (These men [slaved freed by Rome] were from a group called the Free Synagogue and included Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, and Asians.) 10 The Holy Spirit gave Stephen such wisdom in responding to their arguments that they were humiliated; 11 in retaliation, they spread a vicious rumor: “We heard Stephen speak blasphemies against Moses and God.”
12 Their rumor prompted an uprising that included common people, religious officials, and scholars. They surprised Stephen, grabbed him, and hauled him before the council. 13 They convinced some witnesses to give false testimony.
False Witnesses: This fellow constantly degrades the holy temple and mocks our holy law. 14 With our own ears, we’ve heard him say this Jesus fellow, this Nazarene he’s always talking about, will actually destroy the holy temple and will try to change the sacred customs we received from Moses.
15 The entire council turned its gaze on Stephen to see how he would respond. They were shocked to see his face radiant with peace—as if he were a heavenly messenger.
Prayer: Lord, we pray for more wisdom and the ability to stay in a place of love no matter how others react to us. As well, make a mindful of righteous responses and keep us sensitive to the matters of your heart. We know retaliation is not for us, so please keep us in peace and help us to hold onto our joy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.