Todays Scripture Passage Acts 6:8-15NIV (Full Passage below)
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose… who began to argue with Stephen. 12 …They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses…15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
How does Stephen look like an angel while people are opposing him? Viola Davis, Academy Award nominee for The Help said, “They say the most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you realize why you were born.” We think Stephen had one of those moments where the light came on. He got it. He realized why he was born and that is why his face looked like an angel. Your face will reveal what you know about yourself… and what you know about your God.
We can waste so much time living for what doesn’t light us up. Our face shows it. You were made for a reason. Your life matters and it is crucial that you realize that it matters. Knowing why you were born gives you the ability to face whatever the day holds; whether it be opposition, arguments, lies and even death as Stephen did.
Have you lived the important day of knowing why you were born yet? Are you attempting to live toward that day with the decisions you are making daily? Try the 3 G practice-
Give in – to discovering why you were born. Talk to God. Make it a priority.
Give up – trying to live for anything else
Give out – to others from a place that is consistent with the reason you were born.
Acts 6:8-15 NIV
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and
signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)-Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia-who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy placeand against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.