The Clear Gospel

This morning I began a personal re-read of the book of Acts.  It has been a long time since I have read the whole book.  It seems like over the past several years I have been fascinated with the first couple of chapters.  This fascination has less to do with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (although I believe it was a real event and this gift is for all who are a far off) and more to do with the acts of unity that had to take place for the promise to come.  The whole idea of a group of people really being in “one accord” interests me very much.  But this is not what I want to write about tonight.

Chapter 3 in Acts tells the story of the man being healed at the gate Beautiful.  As I read this narrative again, the real story here is the simple, clear articulation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Peter delivers after the man was healed.  The focus of the story is not really the healing or the man, or even Peter and his great faith, but Jesus.

Peter takes advantage of a moment to clearly articulate that this miracle was an action of Jesus and Peter pointed everyone in the Temple to Jesus.  I have been inspired to make sure that I do not waste any opportunity to tell the story of Jesus.  His story must be illuminated and our stories are just by products of His story.  May the narratives of our lives help to point to a clear Gospel.