Why Stare at Us?

Read

Acts 3:11-13 "While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them: 'Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.'"'

Think

The play works. The ball goes in. And there is always that half second afterward where you find out what somebody is actually made of.

Some people turn and find the person who made the pass. They point at them across the field so everybody watching knows who set it up. Other people run the other direction with their arms out, and the guy who threw the pass just stands there.

Same play. Completely different half second.

Acts 3 hands Peter the biggest half second of his life. A man who has never walked in his life is jumping around a courtyard holding on to him. A crowd comes sprinting over. Everybody is staring. And in that moment, Peter has more attention on him than he has ever had.

This is the same man who a few weeks earlier was too scared to admit he knew Jesus to a servant girl. Now he has a crowd. Now people are looking at him with something like awe.

And the first words out of his mouth are, “Why are you staring at us?”

Boldness that only shows up when it costs you something is only half the test. The other half is what you do when boldness starts working.

Because attention is a strange thing. When you have none of it, you are sure you would handle it well. And then you get a little bit of it and you find out how much you liked it.

You post something and it does better than usual and you check it eleven times in an hour. You give an answer in small group and somebody says, “That was really good,” and you find yourself preparing answers the following week. You start serving on a team and get noticed, and slowly the reason you are there shifts and you do not notice it shifting.

This is not a warning against being seen. Peter was seen. The whole crowd was staring at him and he did not hide from it. He used it. He just refused to keep it.

He redirects in one sentence. “Not by our own power or godliness.” Then he names the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and says that God has glorified his servant Jesus.

Watch what he does not do. He does not do the fake humble thing where you deflect so hard that everybody keeps complimenting you. He does not stand there saying, “Oh, it was nothing,” while enjoying every second. He takes the attention and immediately hands it to somebody else, and then he keeps talking about that somebody else for the next fifteen verses.

Peter had learned something in the courtyard. When it was all about protecting himself, he collapsed. Now that it was not about him at all, he could not be stopped.

There is a real freedom in this that you may not have noticed yet.

If it is about you, then everything is riding on you. If your friend asks a question you cannot answer, you lose. If somebody makes fun of you, you lose. If nothing happens, you failed. The pressure is enormous, which is exactly why so many students never open their mouths.

But if it was never about your power or godliness, then it was never yours to carry. You are not the point. You are the one pointing.

That takes the weight off. It also takes the credit away, and both of those turn out to be a gift.

Nobody at your school needs to be impressed with you. Plenty of them need to hear about Jesus.

So when something good happens this week, when somebody notices, when the attention comes, ask Peter’s question in your own head: “Why are you staring at me?”

Then point.

Apply

Give the credit away – The next time somebody compliments something good in your life, tell them one true sentence about God’s part in it. Not a speech. One sentence, out loud, in a normal voice.

Pray

Jesus, I want to be trusted with attention. Keep me from quietly turning your work into my highlight. When people notice something in me, help me point them straight to you without making it awkward or fake. You are the one who deserves it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.