This is one of my favorite things that happened in His word. Look at what it says, "...everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel's." He shined so much that they saw a difference and couldn't help but to stare. Their attention was on him because he was going to let God use Him for His glory. They lied about him and it didn't change what he knew to be true, he just surrendered to God and let God speak. He knew so well all that had ever taken place (read chapter 7 verses 1-50) his boldness lead him to challenge them by saying this in verse 51, “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!” We have the Holy Spirit living in us, are we listening and learning so we can follow Him?
I love what Stephen does next in verse 55, “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” He gazed steadily, and his focus was on the glory of God. Our prayer should be that nothing distracts us from seeing the glory of God in our lifetime here on earth. Ronnie Doss spoke about being normal this past weekend and he shared, "The world wants us to be normal so they can use us." And "Normal is a mind set they put in you so you conform." Stephen was not normal because he didn't care about being normal, he wanted to be and do what the Holy Spirit was showing him. He was committed to do only that and he was not afraid of anything that would come from it. Look at the last two verses in chapter 7, verses 59-60 which say, “As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.”
We can all let go and let God so that the world sees us not as condemning believers but loving fully devoted followers of Jesus. I want to finish with one last quote from Ronnie Doss, "You don't get what you want you get what you are committed to." Amen