May 17, 2010
Acts 8
Pastor Jeff Allen
I was recently talking to some people in a children’s ministry class about how we influence others and how our actions mark those that are watching.
Think of it this way: a permanent marker is…permanent. It is very difficult to erase permanent markers, and often impossible. Although their marks can fade and become less apparent, they often remain forever.
My four year old loves to be like her older sister and always wants to play with the permanent markers. However, she doesn’t quite understand that it can last for a very long time and have damaging consequences.
Acts 8 opens with “Saul was one of the official witnesses at the killing of Stephen” (NLT). We know that Stephen was a godly man who was killed because of his passion for preaching the gospel. We also know that Saul would seem to have been an impressionable young man, since verse 3 says that “Saul was going everywhere to devastate the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into jail” (NLT). This was an individual marked by an experience.
Imagine yourself holding a permanent marker. For each of your actions, you make a mark that others are watching. You could be marking your spouse, kids, neighbors, co-workers or even strangers. If you knew the marks that you were leaving on others would last a lifetime, would you still leave them?
Pastor Jeff oversees “The Studio” ministry to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders.
