Act 3:6b. “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk”
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who gives (my ankles) strength.
Do you have weak feet or ankles, or a condition of soul or mind that can defeat you? Are you fixated on the strengths that you miss and others seem to have? Do you mislead yourself and say,” If only I had their faith, joy and trust then God could really use me?
The beggar has it all
He spent every day begging at the everyday time of prayer. Ugly to behold and malformed, the beggar lay by the gate Beautiful. He watched the pious prayers walking into the temple courts. Sharp pains pricked him as they flicked their pennies his way. Struggling, he picked up the ones he could reach as they casually sauntered off to pray to their God.
The begging man wore a mask of frustration as he asked anyone, and everyone at once, for some coin to relieve his subsistent living. He felt degraded by the people walking around and over him. From his low eye level position he could see a forest of muscular, beautifully shaped, ankles and feet. “These people have what I need to praise God,” he muttered, “If I had their feet I could show them a joyful step or two.”
His 40-year daydream is snapped by a “Look at me” command ringing in his good ear. He turns from his fixation on other people’s feet and sees someone kneeling beside him, at his level. He’s hoping it’s someone with a deep pocket. But there is no good news. “Silver or gold I do not have,” intones the man. The beggar has already tuned out; he slowly turns his face away hiding his dismay. Then he hears the word, three in fact: Jesus, Christ and walk. And these men don’t just preach the word they help him act on it. They lift him like a marionette off the floor, and his ankles and feet are miraculously healed and strong. Looking down at his resurrected feet he cannot see where he is being led. He holds on to Jesus, represented by Peter, and walks, jumps and praises God to wherever this may lead him.
Through Peter the beggar looked at Jesus and did the only thing that was needed. When told to walk he obeyed. Does Jesus ask us to walk again? The very condition that we seem to be missing in life God asks us to act upon in faith and obedience against all reasonability. And when we do he will supply the healing. This healing is not primarily for our benefit but God’s. Sometimes we know the healing sometimes not. Yes the beggar was also physically healed, but the goal was the expansion of God’s kingdom. The beggar, like a live object lesson from God, hugs Peter as he preaches his message. And in chapter four of Acts the Holy Spirit does his work and adds a couple more thousand to the kingdom of God.
Home 
Publications 
Spotlight 
Jesus 
