THE CHRISTIAN'S EDGE -- Devotional for August 13, from "Good Seeds"

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

What was it about Jesus that made His enemies not only criticize, but also cower and cringe, whenever they rubbed shoulders with Him? Did Jesus dominate the conversation, wowing them with superior knowledge, powerful charisma, and persuasive arguments? Not exactly, even though one characteristic that put Him “on top” in every confrontation with gospel-rejecters was His ability to out-think them. That alone, however, does not give the full picture, for Jesus came “to seek and to save – not blow away – those who are lost” (Luke 19:10). The motive behind His method was love, always love. He did preach the truth about heaven and hell, and good and evil, but the gospels tell the gospel story in Christ’s good life, too, as well as His good words. “He went about doing good” (Acts 10:38) completes the picture of our Savior. And now, enter Peter and John, two of His disciples. Jesus had picked them up along the seashore and transformed them from fishermen to fishers of men. By the world’s standards they remained uneducated and untrained, but wouldn’t we trade our university and seminary degrees in a heartbeat to walk and talk with Jesus, even if for just one day? The disciples had gone pace by pace and face to face with the Master for three years! But then they lost Him, on the cross. Only later did they learn that that was the only way He could find them, and save them. They experienced the new birth the same as any Christian does; and they endured the painstaking process of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ the same as we do today. The formula can be depended upon to work for any man or woman, in any time or place: SALVATION + SANCTIFICATION = WITNESS. So there stood Peter and John, on trial, oddly, for being witnesses. They couldn’t stop talking about how they’d seen Jesus alive again after He had died. “Is this not the Christ? Does this not prove His power over death? Does it not give us a sure hope that we too will live again, after we die? Because He lives, we, too, shall live!” (see I Corinthians 15:20). This was the message Peter and John got caught preaching and for which they were being examined by the religious big shots! Let’s listen in on the deliberations: “These fellows are as mystifying as they are irritating: we know they are uneducated, and yet the whole world follows after them, while ignoring us. Now just explain that!” Okay, we will! The edge of the Christian (meaning “little Christ”) comes from his Master: he’s not just in the world, he has come to win the world, and he will do it because he OUTTHINKS and OUTLOVES that world!