Love like Jesus

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
–Matthew 5:44–45

Stephen was on trial before the Jewish religious leaders. When he said he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father, the religious leaders drove him out of the city and stoned him. In Stephen’s final moments on earth, I want you to notice the similarities to Jesus’ final moments before His death on the cross.

Look at Acts 7:59: “They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’” Do these words sound familiar to you? Jesus said the same thing when He was on the cross: “Into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Then Stephen fell to his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60). Again, these words should sound familiar. When Jesus was on the cross, He looked at the people who had put him there and said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Stephen’s last request before he died was not that his family be taken care of or that he miraculously be spared. No, Stephen’s last prayer was that his persecutors would find forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

At least one person present that day would go on to find God’s forgiveness, just as Stephen had prayed. Acts 7:58 says, “The witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” This is the first appearance of Saul of Tarsus, later known as the apostle Paul. Little did Stephen know that this young man would become one of the greatest Christian missionaries in history.

Like Jesus, Stephen was accused on trumped-up charges. Like Jesus, Stephen spoke the truth boldly before the religious leaders. Like Jesus, Stephen gave his spirit into God’s hands. But perhaps the most amazing similarity is that, like Jesus, Stephen had a heart of compassion for his enemies. He did not pray that his persecutors would be destroyed; he prayed that they would find forgiveness. We are never more like Jesus than when we love and pray for our enemies.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “The First Christian Martyr,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2021.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.