Who is my neighbor....?

And what do I do with them? Lately, I have been impressed several times to think about how I am treating others and to review my relationships with my friends, my kids, my wife, my co-workers, my volunteers. Let's face it, life always seems to be in hyper mode - always on the go but never going very deep. We touch on so many things in our daily lives, but we never spend too much time on anything or anyone.

But is that they way it's supposed to be? Is that all here is? In the New Testament, there is a word used there to indicate what we SHOULD be focused on -at least when it comes to relationships with others. It is koinonia. It's the word used in Acts 2:42: “And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The rest of that passage gives even more clues as to what this “fellowship” is all about:

Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 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. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:43-47, NIV)

Highlighted in green are simply the side effects of having genuine fellowship. The side effects were not the focus, but what happened as a result of having true fellowship with one another. Is it so far off to think that the modern-church should have these going as well? Do we already?

Ponder these things over the next few weeks as we will be discussing them more at our next Equip Meeting on October 14th at 6:00 PM.

Dean