Read:
Spend enough time around someone and you start to pick up their habits—the way they talk, the way they think, even how they react when life gets hard. We slowly come to reflect the people we're closest to. "Birds of a feather," as the saying goes.
That's exactly what the religious leaders ran into with Peter and John. They were amazed by the boldness of these two, because they could tell they were ordinary men with no formal training. This is the same Peter who, just weeks earlier, denied he even knew Jesus. The same group of disciples who scattered in fear when Jesus was arrested. So what changed? How does that kind of fear turn into this kind of boldness?
The council landed on the answer themselves: they had been with Jesus. That's what happens when you spend real time with him. He starts to change the way you think, the way you speak, the way you handle pressure. The closer you get, the more his character rubs off on yours. Over time, people start to notice there's something different about you.
Is anything getting more of your time and attention than Jesus? Imagine what could grow out of your life if you started guarding your time with him like the gift it is.
Pray: God, I want the way I think and live to be the result of time spent with you. That time is a gift—help me protect it and prioritize it over everything else clamoring for my attention. Make me more like you, and let people see the difference. Amen.