Look on Us

"And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us." Act 3:4

Here, majesty and misery meet. Law and love converge. Grief and grace intertwine. While the Temple rises in grandeur, a lame beggar sits at its threshold. Peter and John pass, noticing this man, but he does not look up. Peter stops and calls out, "Look on us."  

"Us."

Peter and John, men as different as fire and water, were bound by a singular aim: to bring souls into the eternal kingdom of their beloved Christ. This pause before the Temple gate reminds us that grace is no respecter of temperament: John's, Peter's, or this lame man's. The Spirit descends upon all He wills, to what measure He wills, drawing hearts together in the unity of the Spirit. Oh, how our Savior loves to use diverse hands for His divine purpose and lift to himself the outcast.

The power of the Holy Spirit surges through Peter as he declares, "Rise!" while we imagine John whispers a silent prayer. Peter saw an opportunity for the Glory of Christ. John, the Apostle of Love, saw not just a lame man but a languishing soul, ripe for the Gospel. Both are the heart of Christ, manifesting a divine harmony of power and love, twin fruits nourished at His cross. Our Savior delights in achieving the impossible, rendering lameness irrelevant in the light of His miraculous power.

How often do we pass by opportunities for grace, blind to the "lame beggars" God places in our path? Peter and John teach us that a heart attuned to divine providence and prepared by spiritual readiness becomes a theater of God’s grace. Peter lacked gold, but what he possessed was of infinitely greater value—the Name above all names, sufficient for all needs and triumphant over all tragedies.

In every human heart, there lies a beggar. Some are yearning for earthly alms. Still, others are desperate for the touch of the Master’s hand. Which are you this morning? It is not the fleeting wealth of this world that truly enriches us but the unsearchable riches of Christ. Don't count your riches in coins; count them in conversions, yours, your family's, your friends! It is in Him alone that every kind of soul finds rest, their lives find purpose, and their actions, eternal consequence.

This morning, let us then proceed with this assurance: that in our diversities and in our needs, in our zeal and in our love, in our lameness and folly, we may be one in glorifying Christ. For in Him alone, we find our true wealth, our true healing, and our true home.