Acts 8
In Acts 8, I’m struck by the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunich. what strikes me is that Philip listened to the angel of the Lord and then obeyed – he went where the angel told him to go.
It seems pretty straightforward as far as Bible reading goes. But do I/do we simply read it through and neglect to see it play out in our own life?
When we accept God’s gift of salvation, we receive the Holy Spirit. So for us in this current day, we don’t encounter angels, at least not usually; although angels are among us, but are often not recognized till later, if at all.
So for us, it is a prompting from the Holy Spirit within us to go to someone, write a letter or card, send an email or text. Maybe we are prompted to do something specific like take them some food, ask them to join us for lunch, or simply go sit with them in a church service or other venue. Perhaps it’s to go stand by them when you notice they are standing with a group, but no one is engaging with them. It could be when a new neighbor moves in or when there’s a loss in the family and you are prompted to make banana bread to share with them.
I believe it’s all these things. I’ve seen it play out over and over in my life.
While I always did these things sporadically over the years, I see now that sometimes I listened but never followed through. I conveniently forgot or was too busy or much worse – chose not to respond. Yikes!
I’m sure I’m not the only one with the sin of omission in their lives. Sin of omission is knowing what to do and then not doing it.
Often I find the Holy Spirit prompts me simply by bringing someone to mind. Most often when this happens, it is a prompt to pray for them. Praise God I do believe I do much better at this than I used to. It’s certainly not any goodness in me. It is God’s growing me to be more like Him. It’s showing me time & time again the blessing of praying for the person.
With so much negativity in the world, I pray we will pay attention, listen to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and then obey. Even though people talk about “random acts of kindness”, I’m not sure I believe they are random for Christians. Because of Christ in us, the hope of glory, I believe He helps us make godly choices/kingdom choices. It doesn’t matter if it’s seemingly spontaneous or carefully thought out. All of our obedience in being kind to others matters.
May we all pray that God opens our eyes and our ears. And may we not only listen, but obey. May our kind deeds bear witness to the faith we profess and hold so dear.
Peace & Blessings friends………………………