“And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.”(Act 6:13-14)

The book of Acts in Chapter 6 narrates how there were murmurings over how the widows were neglected and not being given assistance by the disciples. The disciples ordained seven chosen men to the deaconship. Among the seven men was Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost who did great wonders and miracles among the people. Some men began to argue with him but were no match for his wisdom and for that reason hired some locals to tell lies about him to the council.

It is interesting to note that the reason why Stephen was arrested was because he outshined the Libertines, the Cyrenians, the Alexandrians and those men who came from Cilicia and Asia. I assume they had expected to outnumber him and bombard him with questions and attack his work in the ministry so as to completely silence him. But one man’s wisdom outshined theirs and they were irked to the point that they conspired with the locals to take him down, for good.Think about this, had Stephen been a normal person, doing mediocre things in his society, would these men even have noticed him? I believe not. No one pokes at a fruitless tree because the fruit is what they want.

I happened to stumble upon a talk show the other day and they were talking about a new term (but not new phenomenon):- HATE CRUSH , that is, when you hate someone so bad that you practically stalk them because you want to know their every move.(Confused???? No need to be, just digest it the way I have put it, that’s all!) From one guest to the other , they all explained to us how they hate this person or the other for this or another reason and have gotten to a point that they spend most of their day “obsessing” about that person. I however noticed something common about all the guests. They all hated people who had something that they wanted and were stalking them to (subconsciously) to learn how they can also get the same thing.

Maybe that’s the same thing you are facing at the office, at school, in your social circles or wherever you spend your time. Maybe when you pass by in your nice suit they whisper to each other who does he think he is, Mr Louis Vuitton? Or maybe your team leader disregards your ideas and then puts them forward as his/her own. Or maybe some people are always starting rumours about you to ruin your reputation. Someone once told me, “If you are behind no one will see you, but they talk because they can see you ahead of them.” Always remember, Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (Mat 5:14)

Stay Blessed