Jesus. : Trusting Jesus First, Only, Now, and AlwaysNäide

Life changed forever for Jesus’s disciples when He ascended back into Heaven, but they continued to participate in regular routines of life and worship with other Jews, some of whom may have even been part of the crowd that insisted on Jesus’s crucifixion. Through this interaction, God provided opportunities for them to meet the needs of people around them with His help. No doubt, they could have come up with dozens of excuses to keep to themselves, but if they had, the gospel of Jesus would not have spread the way it did.

As Jesus’s disciples followed His example by performing miracles to draw the attention of onlookers, they were careful to give Jesus credit and use that attention to share the Gospel. They understood that meeting the spiritual needs of people is even more important than meeting their other needs. They also understood that they were only capable of doing what they were doing because Jesus had given them the ability. Because they loved Jesus and knew that He was what people needed most, they made sure to give Him the glory and not keep it.

When Peter healed the lame man, he could have performed the miracle, given Jesus credit for it, and kept silent about the gospel of Jesus, but he didn’t. The memory of a special conversation between him and Jesus probably helped keep him on track. After Jesus had resurrected from the dead, but before He went back to Heaven, He asked Peter to prove his love for Jesus by giving people what they needed most: Him. So that’s what Peter gave people every chance he got. If we love Jesus like we should, we will, too.