All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper,) and to prayer. [Acts 2:42 (NLT)]
I watched the snowy egret at the beach and couldn’t quite decide if he was an exceptionally smart bird, just plain lazy, or a little of both. Egrets are excellent fishermen and will wade in the shallows stirring up the water with their feet to flush out delicacies like fish, frogs, and crayfish. Other times, they exhibit great patience as they stand nearly immobile for several minutes just waiting for their prey to come near enough for them to strike and catch dinner.
This egret, however, wasn’t wading in the water; he was cruising the beach and visiting various fishermen. Cast netting for bait, the anglers were hurling their nets into the surf. While pulling in the bait-filled nets and dumping the contents in a bucket, a few of the minnows always fall out and that’s what this bird was awaiting. Apparently, he prefers carry-out to hunting and may even prefer shop-lifting if he snatches minnows out of the buckets. Clearly, he wants others to do the work while he reaps the benefits. I look at our churches and think we have a lot of people who are like that egret—people who are willing to let the other guys do most or even all of the work.
The early church devoted itself to learning from the Apostles, eating together, prayers, and fellowship. They didn’t just have fellowship, they dedicated themselves to it. Today, many church-goers would define Christian fellowship as having coffee with other parishioners before or after church. Fellowship in the first century, however, meant much more than that and continues to mean more today. Christian fellowship is concern and commitment to one another; it is caring for and sharing with one another. Moreover, we need to share more than our beliefs, activities, interests, communion or coffee. For true Christian fellowship, we need to share our responsibilities and work, especially if we are to fulfill the call to care for one another.
The volunteers at our church were recently recognized while the rest of the congregation stood and gave them a round of applause. Remembering that we don’t just attend a church but are part of one, rather than giving our church volunteers a hand, we need to think about giving them both of our hands, sharing in their responsibilities, and enjoying true Christian fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ!
“Biology!? Math!? English! AAHH!” groans Nancy in a recent one of Guy Gilchrist’s comics. “I shouldn’t have to memorize anything I can Google!!” she protests with a frown. Oh, I feel your pain, Nancy; indeed, I do! Were it not for my Bible’s concordance and Google, I’d be hard put to include Bible verses in my devotions. I can manage to remember the gist of many verses but don’t ask me for chapter or verse and you’d better not quote me because my words won’t be exact. If quizzed on Scripture, I definitely would need an open book test and, like Nancy, would much prefer having access to Google.
As I grabbed my jacket, I noticed the familiar Under Armour logo on the front. Looking down, I saw that my t-shirt advertised a local boot camp class and my shorts displayed Fila’s logo. Eyeing my husband, I saw that his shorts displayed the same logo as mine and his shirt advertised the physical therapy clinic that has treated him over the years. While my cap sported the famed Nike swish, the name of a local pub was embroidered on his. A red swish peeked out from the top of his shoes while my socks were decorated with New Balance’s logo and pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness. The large “N” on each side of our sneakers identified them as another New Balance purchase. We were virtual walking billboards and we’d paid a hefty price for the privilege of advertising other people’s goods and services!
Warm summer nights at the lake mean campfires, s’mores and fireflies. As the darkness descends, bug jars appear and the children start chasing these fascinating insects. How odd that the same child who will shirk away from any insect during the day will give chase to and capture these flashing winged beetles at night. By the end of the evening, the children have collected a jarful of tiny flying stars (that will be released as soon as the little ones are tucked into bed).
“I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” sang the Rolling Stones in 1965. Back in 520 BC, the Jews of Jerusalem were probably singing their own version of that song. Sixteen years earlier, upon their return to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, they had started to rebuild the temple just as God had instructed them to do. Within two years, however, construction had stopped. Granted, they had hostile neighbors who, fearing a prosperous Jewish state, harassed them. In actuality, though, they were more to blame for their delay than were their political opponents. Questioning God’s timing, they’d grown discouraged, lost focus and become more concerned about building their own homes than finishing God’s house. God sent a message to the people through the prophet Haggai pointing out that the harder the people worked for themselves, the less they had to show for it. By ignoring God and fulfilling their needs first, the Jews were destined to remain unsatisfied. Moreover, God was angry that He had been ignored. So angry, in fact, that He sent a drought to destroy their crops and livestock.
“Be mindful to be a blessing…” After reading Paul’s words as translated in the Classic Amplified Bible, I thought of a comic I recently saw in the newspaper. (Oddly, I get lots of inspiration from the comics and I’m not sure what that says about my intellect.) Nevertheless, in “Nancy,” written by Guy Gilchrist, it’s Nancy who is reading the comics page. The speech balloon says, “Today’s Motivation: Let your presence be a gift to all you meet!” The next panel shows her walking down the street. Instead of her typical hair ribbon, she is wearing an enormous bow and a gift tag that says, “To you!”
Devotions of the Heart 