“I was in the Book of Acts earlier this morning,” Stan began, “and I was reminded about the man who was so helpful to me as my spiritual mentor.”
“What reminded you about him?” I asked.
“It’s the story of the apostles Peter and John,” Stan replied, “where they were being questioned by the Jewish leaders after the miracle where the lame beggar was healed.”
“Oh,” I said, “the guy who asked Peter and John for some money, but Peter was used by God to heal the man?”
“Yeah,” Stan replied, “that’s the one. Peter told him he didn’t have any money to give him, but what he did have was Jesus and he gave that to him.”
“In any event,” Stan continued, “when the Jewish leaders were questioning Peter and John about all of that, it says that the Jews knew the apostles were uneducated and untrained, but they marveled over what they knew.”
“Then comes the key,” he added, “it says the Jews began to recognize that Peter and John had been with Jesus.”
“And how does this remind you of your mentor?” I asked.
“He wasn’t a Biblical scholar, an ordained minister, or a pastor;” Stan replied, “so in that sense he was uneducated and untrained, but he did spend a lot of time with Jesus!”
“A lot of time with Jesus,” I repeated. “Doing what?”
“Praying,” Stan replied. “Along with reading the Word of God, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and being open to all that God wanted to show him so he could be a conduit into the lives of other people, including me.”
“A conduit?” I asked.
“That’s right,” Stan replied. “And I think that Jesus said the same thing about Himself when He said that His teaching was not His, but it was His Father’s. In essence, Jesus said that He was a conduit for what His Father had for Him to tell the people.”
Continuing, he added, “I see my mentor as being the same sort of conduit. He was merely passing on what he had been shown.”
“Maybe,” I responded, “that’s what we are all to do. Be conduits for what God has for us to pass along to others.”
“I think,” Stan replied, “it goes a lot further than ‘maybe’. I would put it in the category of being what disciples are supposed to do!”
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This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him. Luke 9:35.
Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. Acts of The Apostles 4:13.
The Jews therefore were marveling, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” Jesus therefore answered them, and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” John 7:15, 16.
At that time Jesus answered and said, “I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes.” Matthew 11:25.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for all you have to show each one of us about you and what you have for us. Thank you for bringing people into our lives, people you use to share the Good News and all that flows from that Good News. Thank you, too, that you want us to go into the world to make disciples, telling what you have told us. Please help me in following every step of your lead to listen to those you send into my life. And please help me in following your lead in telling others what you have made known to me so that they, too, will know. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Do you think that only those people who are formally trained and educated are the ones to tell others about God? Why or why not? If you have not been educated and trained in that way, are you reluctant to share with others what you sense God has shown you directly? Why or why not? If you sense you do not know God as well as you would like, and as well as He wants, do you know how to pursue that knowledge? In answering that, focus on what Jesus said in John 17:3 concerning eternal life being about knowing God the Father and Jesus the Son.
Waiting for the Train 