Filled with Grace

Living in Covenant

A Heart-felt Covenant

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Jesus Teaches about Transforming Love

Acts 6:8-15 The Message (MSG

8-10 Stephen, brimming with God’s grace and energy, was doing wonderful things among the people, unmistakable signs that God was among them. But then some men from the meeting place whose membership was made up of freed slaves, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and some others from Cilicia and Asia, went up against him trying to argue him down. But they were no match for his wisdom and spirit when he spoke.
11 So in secret, they bribed men to lie: “We heard him cursing Moses and God.”
12-14 That stirred up the people, the religious leaders, and religion scholars. They grabbed Stephen and took him before the High Council. They put forward their bribed witnesses to testify: “This man talks nonstop against this Holy Place and God’s Law. We even heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth would tear this place down and throw out all the customs Moses gave us.”
15 As all those who sat on the High Council looked at Stephen, they found they couldn’t take their eyes off him—his face was like the face of an angel!

For Reflection

Could it be that from time to time for those of us who embrace the saving Grace of God and who respond to the Christ who resides in our souls that our countenance, like Stevens, reflects or mirrors the Grace of God?  Could that explain the occasional deep intimacy that unexpectedly pops up in a discussion even between strangers?

Pray

Pray unceasingly about all things so that your relationship to Christ grows abundantly.

Note: Dyed silk banner by students at the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, Montreat, NC, 2019
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