And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. ~Acts 4:33-34
I love this. The text almost resonates with a gasp. SO powerfully that people even looked after each other!!
It is something when God raises Christ from the dead, and it is something else when Peter and John heal a paraplegic, but yet the fact that believers live together like this, taking care of each other's every need. That is worthy of emphasis amongst such other miracles.
I love this. The text almost resonates with a gasp. SO powerfully that people even looked after each other!!
It is something when God raises Christ from the dead, and it is something else when Peter and John heal a paraplegic, but yet the fact that believers live together like this, taking care of each other's every need. That is worthy of emphasis amongst such other miracles.
And tell me, where else in scripture does this occur?
The spirit moves in the Bible in many wonderful ways, but this is unprecedented.
And revival has been described as a community saturated with God.
And I believe this is the evidence of it.
God is love. And by this shall the world know you belong to Jesus. That you love one another.
And that brings me back to the verse in 1 John that I wrote about a few weeks back...
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
The love of God finds expression like this. It manifests itself. It can do no other. Love is not an onlooker. Love is an action. Genuine love may start as an emotion but it will always find expression.
And we see that in no better light than in the manifestation of God's love in Jesus.
For God SO loved the world that he sent his only son.
God knew the need and he met it, in the most perfect way possible.
Love cannot sit on it's hands.
Some very strong warnings exist in scripture for those who turn away from the need of their family members.
And yet here we see a community of people not all related expressing this familial love to one another and it is a thing of wonder.
For this love we must first understand and experience God's love for us, as he 'sheds abroad in our hearts his love, by the holy spirit '.
We do not love first but we are first loved.
And that love has an overflow. It saturates communities.
Love God. Love yourself. Love your neighbour.
But you see, in reality, there are no punctuation marks. Love is seamless. To love God is to understand his love and the overflow is not an effort.
Therefore we do not stand in condemnation. It is not to say, 'oh no. You didn't help that person. You bad Christian. Are you sure you are saved because God's love clearly isn't in you. '
No.
It is not about effort.
We have to be full of love and mercy for it to be able to overflow.
Like the parable of the unforgiving servant illustrates, mercy flows down.
And he who is forgiven much, loves much.
Dear family.
We are loved with an everlasting love.
Fill your heart with that today.....
And let it overflow.
Amen.
The spirit moves in the Bible in many wonderful ways, but this is unprecedented.
And revival has been described as a community saturated with God.
And I believe this is the evidence of it.
God is love. And by this shall the world know you belong to Jesus. That you love one another.
And that brings me back to the verse in 1 John that I wrote about a few weeks back...
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
The love of God finds expression like this. It manifests itself. It can do no other. Love is not an onlooker. Love is an action. Genuine love may start as an emotion but it will always find expression.
And we see that in no better light than in the manifestation of God's love in Jesus.
For God SO loved the world that he sent his only son.
God knew the need and he met it, in the most perfect way possible.
Love cannot sit on it's hands.
Some very strong warnings exist in scripture for those who turn away from the need of their family members.
And yet here we see a community of people not all related expressing this familial love to one another and it is a thing of wonder.
For this love we must first understand and experience God's love for us, as he 'sheds abroad in our hearts his love, by the holy spirit '.
We do not love first but we are first loved.
And that love has an overflow. It saturates communities.
Love God. Love yourself. Love your neighbour.
But you see, in reality, there are no punctuation marks. Love is seamless. To love God is to understand his love and the overflow is not an effort.
Therefore we do not stand in condemnation. It is not to say, 'oh no. You didn't help that person. You bad Christian. Are you sure you are saved because God's love clearly isn't in you. '
No.
It is not about effort.
We have to be full of love and mercy for it to be able to overflow.
Like the parable of the unforgiving servant illustrates, mercy flows down.
And he who is forgiven much, loves much.
Dear family.
We are loved with an everlasting love.
Fill your heart with that today.....
And let it overflow.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment