Encouragement

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The first thing that occurs to me when I think about the first century church is that they did not have Bibles. I don't envy them because they didn't have Bibles. However, I am a bit in awe of the fact that from day to day they relied only on each other and the Lord. Maybe that's why they went to the temple every day and ate together so much. Today anybody can have a Bible and everybody eats in their own house.

I seem to remember hearing about the early Christian's "Love Feasts." That is, they got together a lot to eat. When I am eating together with brothers and sisters, I often think, "This is what it must have been like in the first century," and, "This is what it will be like at the marriage supper of the Lamb."

I am not an ordained minister, a Bible college graduate or even a Bible scholar, so at this particular moment I'm not thinking about any background information regarding Hebrew marriage traditions or anything like that. I'm just thinking about how eating together has always been and I have heard will always be a part of what we do together as Christians, and how an ordinary act like eating changes when we're born again.

Everything takes on new meaning once we are born again. And yet sometimes I feel like after we've been saved for awhile, we seem to need more reminders of what has happened to us because sometimes we let the cares of this life, desire for riches and pleasures of this life (Luke 8:14) pull us away from the Lord. That's why I like to think about the early church and the early days of my salvation experience.

Thinking about the early church and remembering how I was when I first got saved help me get my focus back on Jesus, because both speak about newness of life.

Paul said we should do everything for the Lord and everything for His glory. Whether we eat or whether we don't eat, we eat or don't eat for the Lord, he said. So I'm thinking, am I doing everything for the Lord?

I'm trying to live only for the Lord. I'm trying to follow Him, to go where He's going. I feel like I'm growing. He's giving me more responsibility, more opportunities. I am loving his Word more. The more I study it the more I love it. I sense He is working. But still I compare myself with others. I have inappropriate reactions. I forget who I am. That's why I like to think about love feasts and when I first got saved.

So right now I'm going to be glad that Jesus saved me, that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me. I'm going to let Him be God, let Him work patience into my soul, let the Holy Spirit work His way through my mind, will and emotions and be transformed by the renewing of my mind.

I won't do this by studying more or bombarding the gates of heaven more, nor by feeling guilty because I ate too much at lunch and might better have spent the day fasting. I'm just going to be glad that Jesus has made ordinary experiences a feast just like He did when He turned the water into wine. I'm going to be glad that He is here and that nothing will ever be the same again.

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