A valuable question for all of us to ponder
Rejoicing in Dishonor (Part 2)
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So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. And every day both in the temple courts and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus was the Christ.
Acts 5:41-42 (NET)
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I want to talk a bit about “Dramatic Demonstration.”
It’s a marketing term I picked up some years ago. The idea is that you can do some sort of big, elaborate demonstration of your expertise to help persuade people.
Think Harry Houdini doing big, public escapes. Dramatically demonstrating his abilities as a magician.
Consistent, daily declarations are also a sort of dramatic demonstration.
That is, of course, one of the reasons I make this a daily email.
It’s also something we see the disciples doing here.
Every day they’re going around and sharing the good news of Jesus with people. It didn’t matter that they had been berated by the religious leaders and dishonored; they were still going to share daily.
Their actions probably made others take their message more seriously.
If someone is going to do something so counter-cultural, some people are going to want to know why.
Their message was surely not about doing the popular thing.
What could it be about?
Of course I’m speculating a bit, but it’s not too far fetched.
Everything about this verse challenges me.
I’m certainly not traveling house to house every day proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.
I already admitted to struggling with the idea of rejoicing in dishonor*.
Even though the actions of the disciples look so radical to me, they were still humans like I am. With the same Holy Spirit. Same flaws too.
I wonder: how can I follow their example a little closer this week?
A valuable question for all of us to ponder.
— Ricky Ketchum
*yesterday’s email
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