Reflect:
Acts 3:1-4:37
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)
Peter and John didn’t have much—no money, no position, no education, no religious pedigree. They were simple Galilean fishermen—blue collar, hardhat types who were now standing before the most august body of religious leaders in the land. And not only were they holding their own, they were blowing these highbrow Jewish leaders right out of the theological water.
The Jews wanted them to stop using the name of Jesus. They thought they had taken care of the “Jesus” problem when they had him crucified. They figured his small band of uneducated, backwoods followers would disband and go away once their leader was dead and buried. Now here they were, not only teaching in the temple and perpetuating this myth, they had actually healed a man who had been crippled for over 40 years. What were they going to do with these pesky disciples?
Peter, who had publicly denied Jesus just a few weeks prior, and John, who had fled naked into the night when Jesus was arrested, now standing toe-to-toe and looking eyeball-to-eyeball with these intimidating leaders, told them in no uncertain terms that it would be impossible to quit preaching about Jesus and healing in his name since salvation came only through Jesus, “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Since the man who had been healed was standing right there as living proof of Peter and John’s message, the Jews had no alternative but leave this narrow, intolerant theology alone and let these ignorant men go. But on the way out, they Jewish council paid the highest compliment any follower of Christ could ever receive—that “they had been with Jesus”. (Acts 4:13)
You may not have much of a religious pedigree. You may not be well versed in Christian theology. You may not be naturally winsome, articulate, or all that likeable. Your “cool factor” may be pretty much non-existent. In your self-assessment (and the assessment of others, too), you lack more than you have. Doesn’t matter!
What you do have trumps all that you don’t have. You have every possibility that Peter and John had to “be with Jesus”.
That is the greatest goal any and every Christian can have, including you—that at the end of the day, the only thing people can do with you is to take note that you have been with Jesus.
Make that your goal. And then, simply begin to hang out with Jesus.
“By the time the average Christian gets his temperature up to normal, everybody thinks he has a fever!” ~Watchman Nee
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