It Only Takes a Spark

 

This week's prompt from the Five Minute Friday community is "spark."  The first thought that came to my mind was the old song, "Pass It On," whose first verse goes like this:

It only takes a spark
To get a fire going
And soon all those around
Can warm up in its glowing
That's how it is with God's love
Once you've experienced it
You spread His love to ev'ryone
You want to pass it on
Sung by Evie
Written by Kurt Kaiser

But as for writing my freewrite for 5 minutes, I decided to go a different direction.

START

Sometimes, it only takes one person to spark a movement. In recent days, we have seen how Erika Kirk's decision to forgive her husband's killer sparked a lot of conversation influencing others to forgive the person who brought pain into their lives.

Then I thought about the first martyr, Stephen, whose dramatic stoning ended with him asking the Lord to not charge the mob with sin - they didn't know what they were doing.

Stephen was actually following the example of Jesus whose last words also asked the Father to forgive those crucifying Him.

The bible tells us that there was a man named Saul at whose feet the mob parked their coats while they stoned Stephen. It implies Saul was in agreement with the crowd's decision to take matters in their own hands.

But Stephen's forgiveness sparked a new way of looking at things in Saul's mind.

Saul tried to dismiss what happenened but he could not.

And one day, Saul had a Damascus Road experience where he did a 180 degree turn in his thinking and became Paul, perhaps one of God's most effective champions for Christ.

I believe Stephen's death sparked Saul's change of mind because the Lord told him it was hard for Saul to go against his pricks of conscience.

It only took the spark of Stephen's forgiveness prayer to start a conversion that would turn the world upside down.

STOP

All photos created in PicMonkey by Jerralea using personal, family and stock photos. Please do not copy. 

See Acts 7:54-60

Acts 9:3-20

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