The Man at the Beautiful Gate

“Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” — Acts 3:6

One afternoon, at three o’clock, the time for prayer, Peter and John were going up to the temple.

At one of the temple gates, called the Beautiful Gate, there sat a man who had never been able to walk. He had been born that way. Every day, people carried him to the gate and put him there, so that he could beg for money from the people going into the temple. He was more than forty years old (Acts 4:22). He had been begging there for years and years.

When the man saw Peter and John about to go in, he asked them for money.

Peter and John stopped and looked straight at him. “Look at us!” said Peter.

So the man looked at them, expecting to get some money.

“I don’t have any silver or gold,” said Peter. “But what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

Then Peter took him by his right hand and helped him up. And at once the man’s feet and ankles became strong!

He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went into the temple courts with Peter and John, walking and jumping and praising God!

All the people saw him walking and praising God. They knew he was the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

The man held on tight to Peter and John, and the whole crowd came running to see.

“Why are you so surprised?” Peter said to them. “Why are you staring at us, as if we made this man walk by our own power or goodness? We didn’t! It was Jesus. You handed Jesus over to be killed. But God raised Him from the dead, and we have seen it. It is faith in the name of Jesus that has made this man strong and completely well, as you can all see.”

The man had asked for money. Money would have helped him for a day or two. But Peter and John gave him something much better. They gave him Jesus.

Peter and John didn’t have money. But they had something more precious than silver or gold. They knew Jesus. And that’s something we can share with people too.

Read it in your Bible: Acts 3:1–16

Dear Jesus, thank you that your name is powerful. Thank you that knowing you is better than silver or gold. Help me to share you with other people. Amen.