“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.” (Acts 2:46-47)
A few more things about these first New Testament churchies:
They hung out every day. They met at the temple courts and went to each others’ houses. They just liked spending time together. Remember, they had something in common – they were all excited about belonging to God through faith in Jesus.
They did a lot of eating, both for what we call “the Lord’s Supper” and for, you know, lunch and snacks and dinner. Eating together was a big part of being a (big) family together. When you have a choice, you tend to eat with the people you care most about.
They were happy, with “glad and sincere hearts.”
They praised God together – and probably not just during the “worship service.”
Everyone liked them. At first, these new Christians were popular in the community. And why not? Who doesn’t like to be around glad, sincere people that love to spend time together eating and praising God? It’s no wonder they enjoyed the “favor of all the people” for a while.
Think: Would you say that the Christians in your church like to hang out together more than once or twice a week? Like to eat together? Are mostly glad and sincere? Praise God together? Are well-liked in your community?
Pray: Ask God to help you to enjoy being connected to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Do: Make a point to notice during this next week how much time you spend with other Christians, how much you enjoy it, and how that impacts those outside of the church.