What could be better than silver or gold?

Is there something that you’ve been living (or dealing) with that you wish you could change? In Acts 3, Peter and John were headed to the temple to pray when they encountered a man who had been crippled since birth. Every day the man was placed at the entrance to the temple gate to beg for money. When the man saw Peter and John approaching he asked them for money just as he had done to everyone else that entered.

“I have no silver or gold” Peter told him “but what I have I give you.” 

You see Peter couldn’t give the man what he wanted but through the power of the Holy Spirit he could give him something even better than money. 

“In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk!” 

Peter took the man by the right hand and raised him up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles were made strong.

Can you imagine? What do you think was going through the mind of the crippled man? This guy had just been begging for money just a few short seconds before with no hope of ever walking and now in an instant he was walking and leaping and praising God!

Peter gave him something much better than money; he gave him the use of his legs. We tend to do the same thing don’t we? We ask God to solve some small problem – we can see it… it’s right in front of us and to us it’s a major crisis. But He wants to give us something better than that.  Instead of solving our one problem, he wants to give us a new life and solve all of our problems. We may ask God for what we want but we can never be too surprised when He gives us what we need instead.

Acts 3:1 – 10 (NCV)

One day Peter and John went to the Temple at three o’clock, the time set each day for the afternoon prayer service. There, at the Temple gate called Beautiful Gate, was a man who had been crippled all his life. Every day he was carried to this gate to beg for money from the people going into the Temple.  The man saw Peter and John going into the Temple and asked them for money.  Peter and John looked straight at him and said, “Look at us!”  The man looked at them, thinking they were going to give him some money.  But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold, but I do have something else I can give you. By the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, stand up and walk!”  Then Peter took the man’s right hand and lifted him up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles became strong.  He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. He went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God.  All the people recognized him as the crippled man who always sat by the Beautiful Gate begging for money. Now they saw this same man walking and praising God, and they were amazed. They wondered how this could happen.