They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
This passage describes the earliest “new members class” of the Christian church. In response to Peter’s sermon on Pentecost, about three thousand men and women committed their lives to Christ and devoted themselves to living in community with one another.
There were, however, no programs in place to fold the new converts into the fabric of church life.
How joyful are those who fear the LORD—all who follow his ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be!
Everyone knows that habits get us through life. If we could not reduce our routine activities to automated responses, we would be mentally paralyzed by the simplest challenges of daily life: eating, walking, driving a car, brushing our teeth. In fact, habits become so ingrained and necessary that we give them control of our lives without much conscious thought.
Look up into the heavens. Who created the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing. O Jacob, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
Relationship conflicts often boil down to uncertainties about our worth. Each of us has tender areas where we feel inadequate, and we are quick to take offense when these vulnerable areas are exposed.
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Perhaps it’s animal instinct, but we humans tend to seek out people of our own kind. We group ourselves with others who think like us, look like us, live like us, vote like us. We can be wary, skeptical, and dismissive of “those others” who think and act differently from the way we and our friends do.
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Is there a relationship in your life that you would describe as “a thorn”? Perhaps there is a person at work who makes your job miserable or a family member who repeatedly breaks your heart.
