[From March 31, 2015]
"...I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them - in that case you may even be found fighting against God."
(Acts 5:38-39)
Peter & some of his fellow leaders in the early church were routinely harassed & arrested for speaking about Jesus. It upset the Jewish authorities. They admonished Peter & Co. to "cease & desist" when it came to the Jesus talk. They wouldn't. This caused many of the religious leaders much frustration & anger. So much so, they were willing to contemplate killing them! But a wise leader, Gamaliel, counseled restraint. "STOP!" he said. "If they're doing these things on their own, their cause will fail" (and he cited examples of movements that died out over time). "But if it's a God-thing, there's nothing we can do!"
Wise advice indeed. We humans tend to get all "worked up" over one development or another. We get agitated, upset, angry... and sometimes teeter on the brink of doing something stupid (okay, maybe more than sometimes!). In the end, God will prevail. Our job should be to discern when something important is a "God-thing" or just a "human-thing." We need to pay attention to the God-things, and not let the human-things take up too much of our energy.
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