Now when they saw the boldness (Acts 4:13)
Recently, I have been thinking about what it means to be changed by Jesus. Two feelings have dominated my contemplations:
My amazement at how much I have changed from that first day when I decided to accept the forgiveness offered for my sin and to set my life on a trajectory of being a Christ follower.
My disappointment that the older I get the more I realize how much change still needs to happen.
It is really good news that discipleship is a journey. When I think back to the bad decisions I have made and situations where I did not act like a Christ follower, I am so glad that God did not give up on me. It would be easy to be disappointed by past failures if it were not for the knowledge that they are washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ.
I am sure the disciples had similar experiences of failure and disappointment but it was also obvious that their lives had been changed by Jesus. Despite the fact they were ordinary people, who had not been formally trained in a Pharisee school or mentored as scribes, those in leadership recognized they had been with Jesus.
Imagine the impact we would have in our families, work places, churches, and communities if we were so positively changed that the only explanation for those changes is that we have been with Jesus.
Thank you for praying. The people we are training as disciple-makers are making a big difference in their communities. Prayer is a key to supporting these wonderful people who are making Jesus visible in their communities.