Acts 4:19-20 But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

This was a society-shaking declaration. These men, as had been duly noted, were unschooled fishermen. (verse 13) They were certainly not members of “the elite,” yet here they were boldly standing up to the equivalent of the US Senate, and the “elites” had no idea what to do with them. That has increasingly been the situation in the US, ever since Barak Obama made his remarks about those who “cling to their guns and religion,” and Hillary Clinton compounded that by talking about “deplorables.” God has quite a habit of the sort of thing He did here. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29) God is so far above us in every way that any notion of “elite” is completely laughable. The problem is, we like to be “elite.” We like to think of ourselves as big by thinking of others as small, and it takes a conscious effort to overcome that. Bill Whittle.com pokes fun at that by inviting people to “joint our elite group of anti-elitists,” but it’s not really a laughing matter. Like Peter and John, we need to realize that the standard is God, and by that standard we’re all equally nobodies. When God speaks to us, it should be out of the question to obey anything else. Just yesterday I saw a very pointed short video in which a man was describing how he had talked with a teenager about the kind of music he was listening to. The teenager was a professed Christian, and the man asked him, “If God told you only to listen to polka music, would you do it?” The teenager responded, “I’d have to think about that one.” The man pointed out to the teenager that they had a divided heart, and that’s dangerous. The problem is, we all have that tendency, placing our own opinions, and those of the people around us, above that of God. Little children haven’t developed the “elite” mentality, and that’s why Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15) We aren’t elites who are entitled to God’s blessings, we are little children who are totally dependent on Him.

This hits very close to home. As I have written many times before, pride has always been a snare to me. People have told me I was “the cream of the cream,” and I have believed them! I can spot other people being elitest, and at the same time be blind to my own tendencies. I need to be so fixated on my Lord Jesus that I really don’t see rank to any degree. Frankly, I can’t accomplish that on my own, but God can do anything at all, and I ask Him to do it in me. Being His child is the ultimate “elite” category, and it is open to all who will receive it in repentance and faith. That is the message I am called and commissioned to communicate, and I need to give myself totally to that task.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the messages You have been speaking through me. I pray that this morning also I would speak Your heart into the hearts of all who hear, and may we respond with joy and obedience, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!