Daily Power #137

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13 NLT)

You don’t have to be an expert or a scholar, have a seminary degree or experience as a missionary to serve Christ with amazing power. God gives ordinary people extraordinary boldness. I’m living proof of that—and so were Jesus’ disciples!

Don’t believe me? Consider this: the Greek word translated as “ordinary” in today’s verse is the word idiotas. This word can mean “unlearned” or “unschooled” or “ordinary,” but the most literal translation for the word idiotas is, you guessed it, the word idiot! Don’t you love it?

Sometimes I think the Bible translators are just too polite. Yes, the most literal translation renders this verse as, “These guys were amazed and couldn’t believe the boldness of these idiots.” There’s no mean-spirited name calling here; it’s just a fact, these guys had no special training or religious education that qualified them to heal a lame man.

Here’s the deal: if you’re like the best of the best, the brightest of the brightest, God will still use you for his kingdom. It’s just that he specializes in using idiots—normal, everyday people like you and me! God loves, absolutely loves, using ordinary people to step out boldly so that others can see his power shining through them.

Power Lift

Lord, I’m grateful that I don’t have to be some perfect, superstar Christian for you to use me. As much as I want to boldly serve others, I still stumble and even miss opportunities right in front of me. Today let me be an ordinary, everyday conduit for your grace and power.