When Others Notice
Acts 2:47 (NLT)
“All the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved” Acts 2:47 (NLT)
Pastor’s Blog
I once heard someone say, “My job is to make God look good”. Part of me thought, “I don’t have to make God look anything. God is God”. Another part of me thought, “Who I am can never make God look good”. But another part of me, the better part of me, thought, “yes, if anyone is ever going to believe in God, there really should be something about me that makes God attractive”.
The result of this first Pentecost after that first Easter was that the early church gatherings looked good to outsiders. People wanted in. Thousands became believers very quickly. What outsiders saw was happy people who were giving credit to God for their joy and these people were good-willed. Who isn’t attracted to a good willed person.
Each day “those who were being saved” were added to these house churches. Luke puts this very nicely. He gives no profound well argued theological pronouncement like, “once saved always saved”. He just says that a lot of messy people still in process were unconditionally accepted into these Christian gatherings and that it was a really compelling and attractive thing that was happening.
(to post your thoughts, anonymously if you wish, simply click on “comments” below)
I think, for me, my concern is not in making God look more attractive, but being concerned that I don't make him look LESS attractive.
ReplyDeleteAnd, then after some thought on this, I do not want to really concentrate on any of this. I want everything I am to be a sincere response to God because I love Him and only for that reason....