42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to
the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many
wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were
together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods,
they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together
in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad
and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And
the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (NIV)
Taken from www.biblegateway.com
When is the last time you talked with your neighbors? Really talked -- about how life was going and what issues and occasions they were facing. To be honest, I have to think hard to remember the first and last names of all of our neighbors. We wave as we pass and shout out an occasional "Hello", but for the most part we are all busy with our own lives.
It wasn't always like this. When we first moved onto our court, all the families were new to the neighborhood and we all had young children. The kids would ride their Big Wheels around the court at breakneck speed while we sat on the curb and talked. We knew each others birthdays, extended family members, backgrounds, hopes, and dreams. Often one of us would pull our barbeque pit out to the street, everyone would bring meat and a side dish, and we played, ate, and talked the night away.
As the kids grew large enough not to need immediate supervision and some of our neighbors moved away, we grew apart. We waved and pushed our garage door openers, talked occasionally about how the grass and weeds were doing, and we slowly turned our lives inward. As new families moved into the court, we didn't really have any reason to get together and now we are polite, but we aren't even aware when someone is ill or grieved.
The same thing seems to be happening in our churches. Our busy lifestyles, technology, and stresses cause us to keep to ourselves. We say we will pray for each other, but often we don't really even remember to do that.
The early church members were initimately involved in each others lives. They ate together, worshipped together daily, and compared spiritual growth. They discussed the difficulties in their lives and they helped each other make it through physically, emotionally, and financially.
How can we as a class regain the spirit of the early church? How can we not only carve time out of our busy schedules, but dedicate ourselves to loving each other as much as we love ourselves (and our stuff...)? Who can you help today?
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