All together now

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. – Acts 2.44-45

It is pretty obvious from the very beginning that unity and ‘togetherness’ were pretty important to the early church. ‘All those who believe, they had everything in common and they shared everything so that no one had a need.

The psalmist told us something of how important unity was in Psalm 133 - Behold, how good and how pleasant it is or brethren to dwell together in unity!

Years ago I read a book called We Really Do Need Each Other. It is all about how God never intended for us to be alone. It talked about how important it was in this troubled world that we have each other to depend on. That is part of the reason why God gave us the local church, so that we never need be alone.

This togetherness is much more than just going to church together. It means that we are always there for each other.

Too often we get the idea that we don’t want to be a bother when we have things we are dealing with. We figure that other people have enough problems on their own. That was never God’s intent. The first church took care of each other. Nobody worried about what was yours and what was mine. They made sure that no one suffered for lack of need.

In this Christmas season lets be aware not just of family and close friends. Let’s make sure that everyone is taken care of and that we are together, with all things in common.