Acts 6:2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
As the young church was growing rapidly (described in Acts, Chapter 6), they experienced growing pains just like a child or an adolescent does with physical growth. The 12 primary disciples were torn between ministering "inwardly" to care for "maintenance" needs of existing believers and continuing to extend the message of Jesus to others "outside". It occurs to me that we experience this same tension between inside and outside in our own lives. If we neglect our personal walk with the Lord our spiritual "maintenance program" begins to break down and the outreach or impact side of our lives for the Lord diminishes. As a body of believers, if we neglect the needs of those in the family of faith, we appear to the world as people who preach one message but practice another. Just like the Twelve disciples, we need a balanced walk that builds up the inside in order to grow in a healthy way. And just like the Twelve, we know that we can't do it all ourselves...or with our own strength. We need two other resources: (1) the Lord and (2) each other!
blessings,
Rob Smith
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