One

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

ONE

Acts 4:32-37

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

NIV

Special note:  Although this may not be the most uplifting devotion, it is certainly thought provoking. I am not sure what can be done with this, if anything.  

This would seem to be a difficult concept to deal with as it appears most of us believers own quite a few possessions and it would seem we are all going to keep them for ourselves. We certainly have developed quite a bit from the way the early church functioned. First of all, it would seem we are not even of one heart and mind. We have divided ourselves up into so many camps, so many different denominations, each with their own heart and mind about the interpretation of what the scriptures mean. Then even the individuals within each camp cannot agree completely so as to have one heart and mind. It really is only a few denominations within Christianity that even agree about having to be born again to enter into the Kingdom of God. It becomes even more limited when we start into the baptism of the Holy Spirit and his fruit and gifts. Where is the one heart and mind? We may never see that again, and that is certainly not the way God intended. Then we have to deal with this thing about their having all things in common, selling possessions so that no one had a need. Today it would seem we have those that have and those that don’t but we actually do not hang around with anyone who does not have. It would seem we all who have simply hang out with all the others who have and we never see anyone who has a need, so there is no need to sell any of our possessions. Oh sure, we are told that we need to tithe and give to the church so it can give to the poor in our stead, but in reality most of our giving simply goes to support  those who ask us to tithe and give, so they can have some possessions too. We have come a long way from this early church and it is doubtful we will change from the way we are. Has God developed along with us? Or was this early church acting in human thought about one heart and mind, and sharing all possessions, rather than under the direction of God? Of course most of us do not own any fields to sell, all we have is our homes and cars which certainly we need to continue living where God has directed us to live and blessed us with. We do have some possessions we could sell, but then who would we share the money with, the church, and trust our giving would get into the hands of those who have a need? Although many of the giving was laid at the Apostles feet, which seems to be like us giving our proceeds of sales of our possessions to the church. It all seems way more complicated now then it was in the early church. It is doubtful the Apostles were on salary and had a staff of support personal on the payroll in some large building filled with all sorts of ministry props, like sound systems, platform lighting, kids area, daycares, Sunday school rooms, gyms and the sort. Will we ever return to the way it was? Not likely but we can at least testify to the resurrection of our Lord with great power. One out of three isn’t bad. This is going to take a lot more consideration by a lot more believers before we move toward the other two. It looks like all each of us must come to this: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Although we all are not one, we each are one.