Indictment - Acts 7:51-53

"You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? But your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn't persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One--the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God's law, though you received it from the hands of angels." Acts 7:51-53

Acts 7 is amazing. In it, Stephen basically recounts the entire history of the Jewish people, ending with the indictment cited above. I am no theologian, but I would argue that this charge still holds true today, both for the Jews as a people and Israel as a nation. Not only do they still deny Jesus as Messiah, but they do not hold to the Old covenant system of sacrifices either. So where does that leave them? It seems, right where God said they would be-totally assimilated into the world around them. In a word, secularized. Maybe this is an extreme charge--they ARE still God's chosen people; but I didn't say it, Stephen did!

God, keep me from being judgmental, but give me the wisdom to call a spade a spade. You called us to be set apart for you, to live in the world as strangers in a foreign land, but to still be enough a part of it to affect change. Those are tough marching orders, but with you I know all things are possible. Please enable me.

Today's reading: Ex. 28-29; Acts 7