Every Church Has Them

Posted by brianboughner on Dec 29, 2008 in Daily Bread | 4 comments

So in a nutshell… The disciples were busy preaching the gospel and doing the Lord’s work.  Their numbers were increasing, they were growing leaps and bounds, God was doing amazing miracles in their midst, and yet, there was a problem.  They were negligent of the fact that that certain widows were not getting their fair share of the food.

When reading this, I’m reminded of 2 things:

First, the Apostle James says that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows  in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”   I love this verse… and it’s pretty self explanatory… PURE religion is taking care of orphans and widows, and living a righteous life.  The disciples very quickly realized this and as you’ll find out in tomorrow’s devotional, they began to take measures to make sure they weren’t dropping the ball in this very important area of ministry.

Second, even when a church is growing and busy doing the work of ministry, there could be some very important people in God’s eyes that are being neglected.  Jesus talks about these people when he says, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’   Have you asked yourself recently if there are any at Cumberland that could possibly qualify as being one of the “least of these?”  A widow?  A child of a single parent?  A ‘fringe’ person?  Every church has them.  I think about myself… sure, I was a part of the worship team and was very busy on Sunday mornings, however, how many times did I pass by folks that were not a part of a regular crew of friends and never made an effort to say hi and get to know them.  Even to just introduce myself and simply ask if there is anything that I can be praying for them.