God or Men

25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
27 Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men! 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead–whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Acts 5:25-32

There is a difficult decision that every Christian must face. Who is most important to us – God or people? We might naturally answer God, but is that answer the truth? People can give us many good things: fun, praise, wealth, pleasure, companionship. People can also hurt us. They can arrest us, put us in prison, refuse to talk to us or abuse us with words, or even harm us physically. We can see people. They are near us and around us and can have a huge influence on us, while God often seems far away.

Yet the challenge is to look past people toward God. What does He call us to do? How does He call us to follow? We need to be able to say in our hearts as Peter and the apostles did that “We must obey God rather than men!” (verse 29) We love people, because God loves them and He commands us to love; we respect and even obey people, particularly those in positions of authority; but our greatest love and final obedience belongs to God.

There is often a price for obeying God instead of people. The price could be small, but even a small price can challenge us. Or the price could be large, such as the price Peter and the apostles would pay when they were flogged for speaking about Jesus, and the price they would continue to pay until they left this world.
Jesus understood the price. He knew what people could do to Him as He prayed in Gethsemane “not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). It is a challenge to say and really mean that “We must obey God rather than men!” Yet as Christians, that is what we are called to do.

Prayer:
• Who is more important to you, God or people? Pray that God will help you to give your greatest love and final obedience to Him. .