Is that our attitude towards the Lord? Do we long for the next time we can be in the house of the Lord, amongst our brothers and sisters, longing to sing just one more song, to hear just a few more verses of Scripture, to pray together just a little longer? A popular thought and sentiment for the last decade has been that we want to be like the early church, the one in Acts that was thriving. Studying what the group of believers looked like, what the attitude of their heart was, reveals where we need some readjustment in our lives to see those days in the church today.
No one cared about the line at the local K&W. If the pot roast burnt, so be it. What they wanted was more. More of worship together. More of the Word of God in their lives. More time in the presence of the Lord. They were unified and were yearning for more of faith and less of the world. Their desire was not a passing phrase, a holy sentiment uttered before walking on with life as usual. Their actions showed that they had found a greater desire, a deeper hunger for truth.
Acts 2 gives a glimpse of what was happening. Luke wrote, "Every day, they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with a joyful and humble attitude, praising God and having favor with all people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved." (Acts 2:46-47 HCSB) Every day, they were gathered together. There was devotion and passion. A common hunger for more of Jesus drew the believers together and what broke out was a movement of the Holy Spirit that we read about even today, nearly two thousand years following the days they met in the temple complex.
We live in a world that always wants more, but typically wants more of the wrong things. We want more fulfillment, but we look to the fleeting and never quite find that for which we are longing. We want a peace in our lives, but submerge ourselves deeper into a chaotic world and fail to connect the dots that the chaos of the world will never lead to peace. The desire is to feel secure but we look for security in an insecure culture.
All of what we long for is found in Jesus. Fulfillment is in Jesus, who proclaimed, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again." (John 6:35) Peace comes directly from Christ, who assured the disciples, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you." (John 14:27 HCSB). Security is found when we are in the hands of the Savior of the world, as He assured, "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish - ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand." (John 10:28)
May the request of the heart today be, "Give me more Jesus!" Let it be the deepest desire of our hearts in the realization that what He offers far exceeds what the world can offer. May we ask for more times together in worship together and seek out a deeper worship that dives into the depths of the Word of God, wanting more as it continuously transforms us more into His image. If you could have more of anything today, what would it be?
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