Look at us.

As we continue to sprint through the New Testament book of Acts, we come across an incident that involves giving—but it’s not monetary giving. 

Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. // Acts 3:2

This man was in the temple courts to solicit monetary support for his livelihood from the generous or even guilt-ridden worshipers who were going into the temple to worship. But go deeper into what his life was like. What would it be like to be him, to not be able to walk like almost every other person around you? What would it be like to be ignored because of something that happened to you before your birth? What would it be like to have people daily avoid looking at you in order to stifle any sense of guilt? 

His lot was not easy, but at least some helped him a little. He had certain acquaintances who had set him at one of the more prominent gates that led into the Temple of Jerusalem—the gate called Beautiful. And something beautiful was going to happen to him that day that would disrupt his challenged life.

Peter and John walked into the temple at the time of worship and looked straight at the man, poised in a beggars position. They did not try to avoid his gaze as some might. They did not attempt to dismiss this tattered soul by objectifying him as lame or crippled. They looked at him, because God looks at humanity out of love and concern for the crippled nature of our self.

Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” // Acts 3:4

Peter and John engaged him as an equal. They did not allow him to avert his gaze or just view them as random worshipers. They did not expect him to act as subservient to them—they wanted him to look at them, right in the eye, not at their toes or their knees. They were not going to treat him as a lesser individual, though his physical status and economic situation may have steered others to that calculated view. He was a fellow human being as much in need of God’s grace as Peter was, as John was. “Look at us!”

So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” // Acts 3:5-6

Peter and John did not have financial currency to give. But they had something better: a gift that God had given to them. Jesus gave the disciples of the New Testament Church the ability to heal and do miracles. Peter and John had divine power given to them to show how much God cares about humanity. We have that ability to restore as well and for the same purpose. “Silver and gold I do not have.” (Acts 3:6) You may not have the gift of physical healing, but God has gifted some of you with the ability to provide emotional healing. Maybe you don’t have the currency of finance, but there is something that God has given you. Yours might be the gift of laughter or encouragement or listening.

God has given to each of us a gift. And we are now empowered to go and share the gifts God has given, because even though we are beggars because of our spiritual condition, God would not abandon us to that life. He brought us into his family by the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus. Because of that beautiful gift, what are you willing to give from what you have received?

In Him,
Pastor Al