Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. – Acts 4:13
Lately, our church seems to have had a “baby boom,” and several friends have said they are also expecting bundles of joy in the coming year. One friend in particular tried to keep her pregnancy a secret at first, but she was not very good at it. I did not want to ask her any direct questions until she was ready to tell people, yet I could not help noticing that the topic of babies seemed to come up every time we talked. And she awkwardly spoke in generalities: “Well, whenever we have a baby, we’ll . . .” Finally, I asked her if she was pregnant, and she could not deny the truth. Some things are just not meant to be secrets!
My friend’s behavior is pretty typical of an expectant mother. It can be nearly impossible to hide the joy of an addition to the family, especially from close family and friends. Her excitement reminds me that when Jesus makes a change in our lives, the evidence should be obvious not only to ourselves, but to those around us, too. We ought to have an evident joy, and an uncontainable desire to share with others what He has done for us. If that is in our hearts, we will be like Peter and John in today’s focus verse—even unbelievers will realize that we have been with Jesus.
Recently, we have had several new converts in our congregation. After they were saved, the change in their lives was clear to everyone. They wanted to tell their friends what had happened to them, and one girl said that her newly saved friend even sounded different in her text messages! They had been with Jesus, and they could not keep their enthusiasm to themselves.
Do we still have that uncontainable joy as when we were first saved? It will likely not be expressed in the same way, but others will be able to see it in our lives. Anyone we meet may be a soul who needs to hear about Jesus.