Acts 2:44-45
And all the ones who believe were upon the same thing and
they were having all things in common. And
they were selling the property and the possessions and they were dividing and
distributing the same things to all as much as anyone was having a need.
Thoughts for Today:
First Thought:
One of the reasons why I love this passage is because these
two verses are so challenging. In
addition to the marks of discipleship we saw yesterday, we see fellowship,
giving, and service added to the list.
The early followers of Christ actively sold their stuff and gave it to
others in service. This is a dynamic
that I don’t often get in American Christianity. We still get excited when we get new stuff
and we aren’t great at sharing. When we
get new electronics, or a new car, or new whatever – we get excited. We still are a consumer driven people rather
than a neighbor driven people.
How much does the pursuit of stuff in your life drive your
actions? How often does the need of your
neighbor drive your actions?
Second Thought:
One of the reasons the early church was able to accomplish
this wonderful dynamic was because they believed that they would live and die
together. They threw their lots in with
each other. In the face of the massive
amount of Jews, what were a handful of Christians? They had to band together to survive.
Are we more like the early Christians or the Jews in this
regard? Do American Christians feel like
we need to band together to survive or are we more likely to approach church
with the idea that “I’ll be here until I don’t like it anymore and then I’ll
leave?” How does this get in the way of
what God wants to do?
Third Thought:
Same third thought as yesterday. How good am I at doing what the first
followers of Christ are doing in these verses?
So today, the questions are: how good am I at focusing on
the people around me and not my technological wonders (or other stuff)? How good am I at actually giving of what I
have or make?
Passage for Tomorrow: Acts 2:46-47
2 comments:
Ill tell you up front at this moment in time I would be more like the Jewish people. Kinda like that its mine and only mind type mindset...ya know what I mean?
Indeed I do. So let me ask you - do you think that it is because it is inherent to who you are as a human being or because you have been trained to be that way?
{It probably is a bit of both, so it's okay if you have to wrestle with which one is more. I think for all of us it is both our upbringing and our nature. But which would you say is the most cause?}
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