Let Me Be Like Them

I know it’s been awhile since I have shared or written anything. Life the last couple months has been so crazy, but oh, so sweet at the same time! I can feel and see the Lord working in so many areas of my life. One specific area, has been my time with Him. This year I have been more consistent with spending time with the Lord daily, but it had gotten to the point where I was doing it just to say I did it. The Lord convicted me about how I was spending time with him. So as I begin to pray and really step away and spend time with Him, He has shown me other areas of my life I need to work on. 

Here is what He has been teaching me: 

As a child of God I have the Holy Spirit living in me, and what a wonderful thing that is. Our church is reading through the book of Acts. We are in chapter 2, but boy have I so enjoyed learning about Christ sending the Holy Spirit down to the disciples, learning about the conversion of so many people, and how the early church was totally and completely sold out for Christ. As I have been reading and learning about those events I have been thinking. Haha, you can laugh. I know you might think, wow that is new. Really, the Lord has given me so many good thoughts that I just wanted to share with you, and please know my heart when I share this, all these things the Lord has revealed to me are things I must work on as well. So this is more for me than any one else.

So here we go!

At the end of Acts chapter 2 we see that those who have been converted. They have accepted his teachings, they were baptized, and now they are living a changed life. The Lord showed me 3 different areas in the lives of the Christians of that day are different from the Christians of today.

The first way they are different, is that they were SELFLESS. They sold what they had, in order to give to those who were in need. Now, please don’t get me wrong I don’t believe we need to sell everything. But I do believe, as believers could be more selfless when it comes to the needs of others. AGAIN, talking to myself. But it’s not just talking about giving to those who are like us, but those who might not be like us, or run in our circles, or smell like us. Acts 2:45 says, “… as every man had need.” I believe we need to be wise and ask the Lord before we just give, but the Christians of that day weren’t selfish, like I am today.

The second way they were different , is that they were COMMITTED. Today we live in a world that doesn’t value commitment, or we are committed to the wrong things. “They were committed daily in one accord to going to the temple….” Acts 2:26. I truly believe if we were as committed as the Christians back then, our world would be a different place. We would be quick to give to those in need, we would be quick to really pray for one another, we would be quick to love like Jesus did. Now because things are not the same as it was back in that day, I believe our committed time looks different than going to the temple daily. Our committed time could be spending genuine, no distractions, time with the Lord. A time where we sit alone and say Lord here am I, I am ready to see what you have for me, reveal it in a way ONLY you can. I have done that the last several days and boy has the Lord shown out! What a day that will be when Christians take a step back from committing time and efforts to this world and begin to commit to the things of the Lord. 

The third way they were different, was their FELLOWSHIP with one another. I have been SO convicted about this once recently. I find myself talking and hanging out with people who are like me, who have similar dreams and ambitions, who worship like me, but the Lord has shown me that there are other people out there that could use true fellowship. I sit there at church and give the Lord excuse, after excuse thinking He will understand. When in His word He tells me to have fellowship others. I may be the only one who give these excuse like; I’m shy, I have nothing in common with them, I’ve seen them for several weeks but have never said anything I can’t go say something now, I won’t know what to say after, “ hey, how’s it going?”. When I sit there in a puddle of my excuses I am disobeying God. Who knows, if I would just go talk to that person, maybe I would have more in common with them than I thought. 

Each of these things have hit me straight to the heart! The Lords has done so much for me, I need to give selflessly, I need to be committed to the things of the Lord, I need to show myself friendly and create new fellowship with other believers. Now none of this might have made sense to you, but it is just something the Lord has been working on me. I struggle with each of these things, but after reading about the early Christians I am now motivated to be like them and be completely sold out for Jesus!

Why? 

Because He has done so much for me, it’s the least I can do for Him. I can become a little uncomfortable to share the love of Jesus with someone who might really need it!