Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!” Acts 5:29
“May we strive to contribute towards having the person and teachings of Christ proclaimed in every corner of the globe, without ever giving in to human respect. May we cast aside all pessimism, ever confident in the ultimate triumph of good over evil. The effect of our good deeds will have an immeasurable impact on society. With the grace of the Lord we will be like the stone that falls into the lake and produces one ripple and then another and another until the end of time. Truly Jesus grants supernatural efficacy to all our words and deeds in a way that we are must of the time unaware of.”
Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 357.
Someone asked me recently to comment on why the American society had drifted so far from God. In the words of Fernandez, I said that people give in to “human respect” instead of obedience to God.
In today’s Scripture, Peter passionately reminds us to obey God rather than humans. Only when we do this can we have immeasurable impact on society. We must living in the confidence of the ultimate victory we have in Christ.
Related to our generosity, our good deeds will have great impact. We may never know the reach of them, but like a ripple effect, they spread far and wide. Keep doing good everyone. God sees.
And we may not change the world, but we can impact he world around us in immeasurable ways.