When you are forced to explain yourself, what does it feel like?
Think about a time when you did something (either good or bad) and then someone like a friend or family member pressed you about it, forcing you to explain the situation to them. Do you remember what it felt like? Did you think that you owed them an answer? Perhaps you thought they should probably mind their own business.
Now, turn the situation around and say a friend or family member was in trouble and you wanted to desperately help the situation, so you press them. They personally didn’t want or even ask for your help or involvement. Is it fair to say that you are now involved in an affair that they think you should have no part in? Maybe they now think that you should mind your own business.
Who determines this?
There are many situations that happen in a lifetime that we perceive to be exclusive, stand-alone events. Does making toast in the morning for my husband really affect my son? Well, not directly, but what are some ways that it does? When I make toast for him doesn’t that mean that there is less bread in the house for everyone? If my son were to ask me what happened to the bread, is he due an answer or should he simply mind his business?
In Acts 7, just before his stoning, Stephen gives a sort of defense for the situation he finds himself in. He is defending himself against those that press him about his actions. In his defense, he begins recalling many patriarchs of the faith, he explains details of many of past events, and then proceeds to call the ones who are pressing him for answers out. Referring to them as betrayers, murderers, and lawbreakers. Why such a comprehensive explanation? Especially to those who don’t mean him well.
Only when one is wholly in Truth, meaning a truth bigger than them, would they find the wherewithal to express such a lengthy and confrontational dissertation, especially just before their death… at the hands of these “oppressors.”
THIS WEEK’S 3-MINUTE VIEW: “There is no such thing as “my truth”. This phrase which shuts the door to the bigger picture on actual Truth. This idea of “I can do what I want, when I want and nobody can judge me” leads to just that. No one will judge you. But woe to the individual who does not have another human counterpart willing judge their actions. Not only do they become the thing they’re being accused of, they also now are left to the Judge of all judges… not a good place to be.
We hardly have energy to explain our own actions to someone who means well for us, let alone those desiring our downfall. But in the account of Stephen, the LORD shows us a purpose in doing this.
Like Stephen, we ought to be able to explain our actions… give a reason of defense. Not only for things we believe, but just as well for things that are in Truth. Things that affect affairs bigger than us. As we are growing in this, we can look to Stephen as example. Only then can God (rather than us) be glorified.
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