A man full of faith and the Holy Spirit…

 

Saturday, June 10, 2023


Psalms 92; 93

1 Samuel 4:1b-22

Acts 6:1-7


A man full of faith and the Holy Spirit…


Being part of a church means you get to go to plenty of funerals. These are very humbling and precious affairs: as you sit there and be a part of the service, it is as if the person you are saying goodbye to is being remade in front of you. There are photos, sure. But as people get up and give eulogies, and you hear the prayers and hymns selected for the occasion, and notice how different people deal with their grief, you get a really good idea of who the dearly departed was. It is one of the most special ways you can meet someone.


But this is all second-hand information. The person in the coffin is not getting up and telling us all what they want us to think of them. We are all remembering the impression they gave; our own interpretation of who they were. In a way, it is like you get to see a side of them they never would have let anyone else see.


Stephen didn’t write the book of Acts; Luke did. And Luke tells us that he is working off what he saw, as well as the information he gained from interviewing numerous eyewitnesses. The great impression that Stephen left on the early church was that he was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. What an envious eulogy.


I’m sure Stephen stumbled; that he would have had moments of doubt, frustration, trial and all the other ugly things life throws at us. But the way he responded to it was so inspiring that the people around him remember him in this way. May we all be given grace from God to be remembered in such a way, too.

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