You’re reading ACTS: LESSONS IN FAITH, by Eric Elder, featuring thirty inspiring devotionals based on the lives of the very first followers of Christ. Also available in paperback and eBook formats in our bookstore for a donation of any size!

Scripture Reading: Acts 2 

There’s a scene in the movie Spider-Man 2 where Spider-Man is swooping from building to building when suddenly he has a web failure.  He crashes into the alley below, looks at his hands and says, “Why is this happening to me?”

He wonders if he’s losing his power.  But it’s not true.  He still has the same power he’s always had since he first got bitten by that supercharged spider.  It’s in his blood.  What he lacks is faith.  He’s had some bad things happen to him and he’s ready to give up.  He just wants to go back to being Peter Parker, a normal guy with a normal job.

But after a pep talk from his Aunt May, Peter goes back to being Spider-Man.  From the top of a building, he takes a flying leap over the edge, yelling, “I’m back!  I’m back!”  Seconds later, he looks down, panics, and plummets into the cars parked below.  He stands up gingerly and says, “My back.  My back.”

I guess he still has a ways to go!  But he’s working on it, something that I want to encourage you to do today, too.

I’ve heard it said that faith is like a muscle, it gets stronger the more we exercise it.  There was another Peter who exercised his faith on a regular basis, Peter the Apostle, the one who stepped over the edge of a boat to walk on water, but seconds later, looked down, panicked and began to sink.  This is the same Peter who stood by Jesus the night he was arrested, saying he’d die for Jesus, but then denied that he even knew Jesus three times before the morning.

Some people criticize Peter for his lack of faith, but the truth is, he’s the only one who stepped over the edge of the boat and got to experience walking on water, even if only for a short time.

On the day of Pentecost, when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower the disciples as He promised He would, the Bible says:

“Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: ‘Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say…’” (Acts 2:14). 

Peter’s message was so powerful that three thousand were baptized and put their faith in Christ as a result.

How did Peter go from denying Christ to proclaiming His name to thousands?  In short, he got his faith back.  He’d seen Jesus raised from the dead, he waited when Jesus told him to wait, and he “got a dose of the Holy Ghost.”  The combination was powerful, and when God told him to act, Peter stood up and boldly told the people gathered what he knew about Jesus.

Peter exercised his faith on a regular basis.  And God wants us to do the same, even when asked to do a “little thing”―bring a meal to a friend, visit someone in a nursing home, send an email to someone who needs encouragement, speak the truth in love, encourage your co-workers to do what’s right, instead of what’s safe, easy or more profitable.

God told a poor widow to gather empty jars from her neighbors so He could fill them with oil.  God did the miracle, but she had to gather the jars (see 2 Kings 4).  God told Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan River, something Naaman thought was too small to make any difference.  But Naaman did it, and God healed him (see 2 Kings 5).

Jesus told the disciples they’d be His witnesses to the ends of the earth.  When the day of Pentecost came, all Peter had to do was stand up and tell them what he knew about Jesus.  God brought people from the ends of the earth to him (see Acts 2:5-12).

If God’s calling you to act, act―even if it’s just a little thing.

Prayer: Father, help me to wait when you say “Wait,” and to act when you say “Act,” so I can accomplish all You want to accomplish through me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.