Faith and Forgiveness

Acts 6: 8, 12, 7:58, 8:1

“6:8 Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.12 They (the Jews in the Temple) stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council.  7:58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 8:1 And Saul approved of their killing him.”

Stephen, a man full of grace, died a terrible death by stoning.  The future Apostle, Saul, who was not yet a believer, stood by as the crowd stoned him.  And he approved of their action.  

Saul, or Paul as they called him later, was used in a powerful way by God in the spreading of the gospel across the ancient world after he came to faith.  Because of God’s forgiveness, Saul was able to put away his past as a persecutor of Christians, and allow the Holy Spirit to work within him so that he could accomplish the things that God was asking him to do.  

In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul wrote: “ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Let us all move forward in the faith and in the forgiveness that God has given us.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)