Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled.  And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”

I don’t like to do laundry. I have no clue why I feel this way. I have pondered any possible childhood laundry-trauma, but I cannot recall one. My recollection is of my mother, who raised six children, constantly washing, drying, folding, and putting away laundry while singing praises to God and praying for each child represented in her mountain of laundry. Certainly, no trauma there! But in my world, folding t-shirts is drudgery and matching socks is like a prison sentence.

Early in my marriage, I determined life to be too short to sort socks, so my miss-matched-sock basket overflows. However, I’ve had a sock-revelation: Any sock with a bold color, stripe, or pattern, is easily matched because it stands out from the rest.

In Acts 4, we meet some bold apostles who, like my socks, stood out in the crowd and were easily recognizable as having been with Jesus. They were healing and proclaiming a resurrected Christ. These were not the same men they had been just weeks before at Jesus’ crucifixion. At that time, they attempted to blend in as they cowered and hid, afraid to be recognized as followers of Jesus.

But following Christ’s resurrection, these men began living mightily. Ephesians 1:19-20 explains it:

You will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe.  It is the same as the mighty power he used to raise Christ from death…”

The apostles had accessed the power used to raise Christ from the dead! Imagine for a moment how great a power was unleashed upon the lifeless body of Jesus, bringing him back to a living and breathing human. This same power was now living in the apostles.

Did you know we also have access to the power that raised Jesus from the dead? Friend, that’s a big deal, for through it, we can be bold. We can proclaim to the unbeliever at the grocery store the story of a loving Savior. We can stand up for godly values in our workplace or our child’s school. We can be bold enough to lovingly confront a friend who is making dangerous choices in their marriage. We can have the boldness to oppose an issue if it pits God’s will against popular will. Then, like a bold colored sock, we will stand out from the rest of the world. We will be different. We will be recognizable as having been with Jesus.

Father God, help us to live boldly for you.   

Blessings,

Rita