Do Your Actions Show You’ve Been With Jesus?

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. – Acts 4:8-10

I want to ask you a question. When people are around you, do they know who you have been with? I want people to know that, when they are around me, there is one person I have been with, that I walk with, that I live with, that I stay with every day and His name is Jesus.

That raises the big question, “How can people know that I have been with Jesus? What will be true of me and true of you if we have been with Jesus? What are the marks of a person who has been with Jesus?” Over the next couple of days, we’re going to look at a group of men in Acts chapter 4. As we do, we’re going to learn that what was true of them will also be true of us if we have been with Jesus.

The first thing that will be true of you if you’ve been with Jesus is that you will have the compassion to serve humbly. Keep in mind that back in the days described in Acts 4, beggars were nothing more than burdens. They were a drain on society. The vast majority of people who had seen this begging man day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year paid no attention to him. All of his begging and crying was falling on deaf ears until Peter and John came along.

But Peter and John took the time to show this man compassion because they had been with Jesus, and they saw Jesus show people compassion time and time again. Jesus was a servant at heart, and He had a servant’s heart. He said, “I did not come to be served, but to serve.” Have you been with Jesus? If you say you have, then I have a question for you, “Where are you serving in your church? Where are you serving in your community? Where are you serving in your neighborhood?” If you are like Jesus, you have the compassion to serve humbly.

I pray you’ll come back tomorrow as we discuss two more facts that are true of those who have been with Jesus.

Dear Lord, thank you for the example of compassion and service that Peter and John set in Acts 4. I want people to know by my actions that I have been with you. Please give me the opportunity to serve others with humility and compassion out of an overflow of my time spent with you. In Jesus’ name, amen.