Theme: AVENGE NOT YOURSELVES
Text: “And they stoned Stephen, … And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” – Acts 7:59, 60.
Comment – “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope”. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come”. (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11). The man Stephen, at the point of death, as our Saviour Jesus Christ had earlier done (Luke 23:34) showed or taught us, that we do not need to wait for apologies, to offer forgiveness. The Bible account as recorded in Acts 7:55-60 gives the clear understanding that those who stoned Stephen to death, did not show remorse nor had second thoughts about their actions, yet, Stephen in complete humility, prayed for forgiveness on their behalf.
Some who are privileged to be in leadership positions, expects their subjects or those under them, to lose their integrity and always fall to their dictates, before their rights and privileges are accorded them. They expect to be appeased in measures not little before they restore those who err. For all such ones, the sooner they realise that positions come from God, they will come to realise that man in his best state, is all together vanity. Those in high offices should understand that they are put there by the grace of God and on trust by their subjects. – Psalm 75:6,7; Daniel 4:29-37; Psalm 39:5; 2 Samuel 23:3; Psalm 49:12