What are you willing to die for?
Israel Resists the Holy Spirit
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
Stephen the Martyr
54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen, loved God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit so much that through power of the Holy Spirit, he stood up to the Jewish powers of his day and proved to them how insidious and unloving, disrespectful and satan-like Israel had become. He convicted them of their heinous crime of killing Christ, like there forefathers killed the prophets before Him. Stephen’s faith meant more than life to him. He knew this conviction would enrage the masses and undoubtedly bring about his demise. But, to him, the Word of God was worth giving up his life for….just like Christ did. Despite the uproarious mob stoning him, he still remained faithful…and his reward was Heaven.
Would we give up our lives for Christ? Do we love YahWeh and His will and word enough to die for God’s cause? When faced with certain death, Stephen's faith strengthened. Could we say the same of ours? What are we willing to die for if Jehovah is not at the top of the list? If He isn’t, then what is that we live for? Sometimes it’s family, friends and so on. It could jobs, wealth, materialism, lust, and the list goes on forever. God is eternal, as is Christ, the Holy Spirit, and all of Heaven. If God is not what we live for, the we live life in vain. Put Jehovah atop the mountain called life, and everything else will fall into place. What we live for, is what we die for ultimately. What do you live for????
