“While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was there giving approval to his death.”-Acts 7:59, 8:1
As my mind wandered today, I came upon a realization of sorts. During my study in Acts I have found the account of the death of Stephen increasingly interesting. The event in and of itself, and the way it was handled by Stephen the martyr are humbling to say the least, but in the past I neglected to recognize the significance of Acts 8:1- “And Saul was there giving approval to his death.”
The words are written in direct contrast to the previous verses. A Godly man is presented in his final hours, praising the name of God to the very end, and on the other end of the spectrum there is a hate-filled man standing by and approving pain and suffering. I couldn’t help but think of how often I’m that approving man. So often I’m the milk-toast Christian who stands idly by so as to not ‘rock the boat’. It would seem that it is human tendency to avoid confrontation when possible. The thing is, we’re not called to coast through this life, and by doing nothing at all when confrontation comes our way, we make no headway! Faith has no purpose without action- one cannot and should not try to just ‘make it’ through life.
Here’s the wake up call- by doing nothing, that is, to live a life of weak conviction, is to give approval to the decay of society. I know that dramatic, but it’s really not when you think about it. As a good friend of mine and I have talked about from time to time, “Jesus isn’t a brand name.” Christianity isn’t an article of clothing you put on and pull off; its engrained, its living a changed life, its resolving to make your convictions known, its not compromising EVEN if that means confrontation, its about NOT giving approval to the foolish ways of a sinful world. A man’s failure to act may spare him confrontation in the here and now, but what is the lasting value? What are we ultimately accomplishing by our inaction?
Believe me, I don’t write this out of ill-intentions or a pointing finger. In truth, I’m writing this out of the conviction of my own heart. One of the biggest struggles I often have is to not want to cause confrontation- I just want to be everyone’s friend. The concept sounds innocent enough, even perhaps a just pursuit, but the problem lies in the fact that it is a self-satisfying desire. Oftentimes I don’t want to rock the boat, because it makes ME uncomfortable.
It is my prayer that myself and others would be given the grace of God to perceiver through those times of necessary confrontation. We should want to be like Stephen the Martyr who embraced the confrontation he was presented with and who chose to die for his faith rather than to settle for the degradation of it! I know its not always fun, but just knowing that you have a Savior who overcame the greatest of confrontations is peace of mind enough to continue onward in the runnable race.I hope you are all doing well and that God is blessing you- thank you to everybody who has been so kind and understanding this last week while I dealt with an extended workload and taxing school schedule. Your prayers were much appreciated! Have an awesome week!
