Commend Your Spirit Into His Hands

December 26, 2019

From today’s reading…

Into your hands I commend my spirit;

you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.

I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy.”

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Stephen, the first martyr of Christianity.

In Matthew 10 we see Jesus warning His followers would be hated, handed over to the courts, beaten, and killed because of Him.

Psalm 31 encouraged us to trust in the Lord. It reminds us that we will have “enemies and persecutors,” but the Lord’s kindness will shine upon us and save us.

Stephen knew all of this because we see at the end of Acts 7, 

As they were stoning Stephen, he called out

‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'”

He was quoting Psalms and Jesus with his dying breath and today we celebrate the manner in which he showed us how to…

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.