SCRIPTURE: Acts 7:44-53
“You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:52)
The word ‘stiff-necked’ means hard to control, haughty or stubborn.
Anyone who knows the history of Israel knows that they had a see-saw relationship with God.
They were often guilty of dishonouring God, the temple, the law and the prophets.
Once again, the religious leaders are being stubborn, resisting God’s Spirit.
All wrapped up in their religion, yet stubbornly closed to God’s heart and purpose.
Jesus is God’s heart and purpose, not christianity, not the church, not the bible.
How many people have been falsely accused in the name of christianity, the church, or the bible?
Are there ways I am being stiff-necked, too wrapped up in christianity, the church, or the bible?
God does not live in the bible, nor in the church, He lives in Jesus, and Jesus lives in us.
As we live and love and lead like Jesus, God’s heart and purpose are fulfilled.
Is living in, with, like and for Jesus the heart and centre of my life?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, forgive me where I am guilty of losing my focus, ‘just like my ancestors’ but not ‘just like Jesus’. Save me from being religious, that I may be righteous, like You.