Do Your Best
"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer...Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts" (Acts 2:42, 46).
Luke describes the early Christians' commitment to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread (Lord's Supper), and prayer as "continual." The Greek term continual is προσκαρτερέω (proskartereo), and means to continue steadfastly, to cleave faithfully. Here it is used metaphorically of steadfastness and faithfulness in the ongoings of the Christian life. He also adds they were devoted, προσκαρτερέω, to meeting every day in the temple, meaning they were devoted to it, committed to it, acknowledging the benefit of doing so.
While nothing is recorded as a command of the Lord to assemble every day, these
Christians understood the value of learning, fellowship, and worship to a
growing faith. It is a vivid illustration that the child of God shouldn't ask,
what is the minimum effort I have to give to please God, but how much, how
often, how privileged are we to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God
(Rom. 12:1)? This is the spirit, John wrote, of those who “did not love their life even when faced with
death” (Rev. 12:11).There is something amiss in a
heart that wants to expend minimal effort to receive the greatest of blessings
in Christ, who offered His all for us. May we make sure our motives align with
the will of God, and the choices we make reveal our love for Christ. "Do
your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need
to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15).
Robert
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