Daily Devotional • August 5
A Reading from Acts 2:37-47
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” 40 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
43 Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Meditation
There was a particularly zealous season of my life when I held up Acts 2 as the paradigm of revival. My friends and I would gather for prayer meetings, pleading to see large-scale conversions, physical healings, and other supernatural spectacles like those described in verses 37-43. The description of the burgeoning Jesus movement found in today’s reading is exciting! Young, earnest Christians could hardly be blamed for wanting the Holy Spirit to work like that again in our lifetimes.
The verses that follow (44-47) seem to describe something more ordinary, at least on the surface. We read about a Christian community living in harmony with one another, meeting regularly for worship, enjoying fellowship, sharing meals in each other’s homes, and redistributing wealth according to the poorest member’s needs.
Yet here too we find distinctive markers of the Holy Spirit’s work; indeed, we find the very fruits of the Spirit at work: love, joy, peace, generosity, faithfulness, etc. Miracles and wonders may have drawn the crowds, but the day-in-day-out patterns and practices of this early community of believers were no less miraculous.
Anyone who has read through the rest of the book of Acts knows things will not stay this picturesque. Disagreements will fester, sowing seeds of division; leaders will diverge. Radical generosity will be tempered by the desire to store away for oneself a little nest egg. The favor once enjoyed by these Christians will give way to persecution. The Holy Spirit will continue to minister among and through them, but we see the first cracks that will eventually lead to major fractures in the church.
Acts 2 may not be prescriptive for us as believers today, but the message is eminently relevant — urgent, even. In light of the divided state we live in, we ought to read Acts 2 again and again. There, we find a reminder of how God can work through believers who are yielded to the Holy Spirit, deployed together in mission, and bound together in love.
Lauren Anderson-Cripps is director of communications and marketing at Nashotah House Theological Seminary and writes for a variety of publications, including The Living Church. Lauren lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Sam, and their dog, Tennessee Jed.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Huron – The Anglican Church of Canada
The Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio