Acts 4:8-13 If We Are Questioned Today

Observation: Peter and John  have created quite a stir in the Jerusalem Temple by healing a man who from birth was unable to walk. When questioned about it, first by the crowds and then by religious leaders, they take every opportunity to give credit to Jesus' name. They didn't do this by themselves.

Application: I think today we draw too firm a line between the natural and the supernatural. We are loath to give God credit for something that seemed to happen by coincidence, or by human ingenuity. We tend to only think of God in the extraordinary, the one-in-a-million, the things that just could not have happened without God opening the heavens and moving some stuff around directly. In the day to day, however, Bart Simpson's dinner prayer mirrors our attitude: "Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing."

After denying Jesus three times the night before the crucifixion, Peter clearly wants to make the rest of his life count. The healing he has done is indeed extraordinary, and can't have happened without God's help, but even so, someone who had walked a different path than Peter had might have wanted to take the tiniest amount of credit. Maybe for saying the right prayer, having the right attitude, or believing enough? Peter is having none of it. From here out, all glory, all credit, all honor go directly to the name of Jesus Christ.

Albert Einstein said something beautiful: "There are two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle." Today, like Peter, I want to give credit where credit is due: for the big things but especially for the small things, for the extraordinary but much more the ordinary, wherever healing or hope take the tiniest foothold on the slippery slope of despair, I want to call out the name of Jesus. For me, there is no other name to describe the salvation I see all around me.

Prayer: Saving God, thank you. Help me see the ways you save me each day. Help me put your name on them. If I am questioned today, may all my life proclaim the name of Jesus. Amen.