With so many possible role models in your context, you are someone’s first choice. God has made us so dynamic that others wish to be like us. It is up to us to ensure that what they seek to imitate is worthwhile. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat
Acts 5:12, 42 AMP
[12] At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders (attesting miracles) were continually taking place among the people. And by common consent they all met together [at the temple] in [the covered porch called] Solomon’s portico.
[42] And every single day, in the temple [area] and in homes, they did not stop teaching and telling the good news of Jesus as the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed).
Imitable Lifestyles 2
Their lifestyle was transforming communities long before MTV and social media. Further, in Acts 8, we hear that a former sorcerer wanted to purchase their charisma. He knew what counterfeit anointing was, and, by his actions, proved the apostles’ anointing genuine. Again, we remind ourselves that the manifestation of God’s Spirit through miraculous signs matters. But the real proof of our anointing is often less spectacular.
Self-Check
Are we more invested in manifesting the spectacular or demonstrating the love of Christ?
Digging Deeper
One could say that amidst the signs and wonders they demonstrated, the apostles were also involved with routine tasks. They preached and taught at the temple in Solomon’s portico. They also met in homes, with relatively smaller, but by far more intimate crowds.
We cannot view households then as being similar to ours. A household then was an entire system, often comprising servants’ quarters and trade shops at the same premises. A house meeting comprised at least 20 people in those settings. Those were the first ‘cell group ministries’, which also set the tone for house churches.
We’re told the believers met daily. At those daily meetings, the apostles taught as led by God’s Spirit. They helped new believers to make the connection between the tenets of the Judaism they knew and the gospel of Christ. They taught with words, but they also lived their faith through action. Let us be reminded (assured) that the best miraculous sign we can share with others about Y’shua is our transformed lifestyle. That is the most important sermon everyone needs to see.
God’s Spirit is positively contagious. We only need to be willing to allow God’s Spirit to guide our lives. Then, we will find that what is imitated truly reflects Christ.
Point to Ponder
When last have we presented the good news as God’s news of salvation in our local contexts – at home, work, school, or play?
—
May all we seek be found in Christ
You must be logged in to post a comment Login