A Very Strong Christian (Acts 7:60)

A few weeks after I became a Christian, I attended a secular human rights conference on my college campus.  I was introduced to a woman who was quite animated about the social causes with which she was involved. Peppered throughout her speech were references to Jesus and her faith. I was intrigued as I listened to this woman. She so comfortably and seamlessly melded her faith and life so that the two were indistinguishable. At the end of the conversation, I naively asked her, “Are you a Christian?”

She exclaimed with an enthusiastic, “Very strongly so!”

I appreciated and admired this woman’s honesty and forthrightness about her faith. As a nascent Christian, I wondered if someday I, too, would be so unabashedly in love with my savior, Jesus Christ? Would I live a life where I would be completely transparent to others, a life where there was no distinction between my faith and my actions?

Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 7:60

I am reminded of the great faith of Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian church. Seconds from death as he was being stoned, he prayed to Jesus Christ on behalf of his accusers.

And I am always humbled by the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in the final moments of His life on this earth, in the midst of His awful pain and suffering, looked down from the cross at his mother, Mary, and made sure that her needs were taken care of by His beloved disciple, John.

I recall, with great fondness, this woman’s reply to me, so many years ago.  I pray that my life will be a reflection and imitation of a strong life of faith, rooted in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A very strong Christian; living a life with no distinction between faith and actions. That’s what I want to be.

Aloha blessings!