Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31
Observing
young children at play will quickly reveal what they have heard and seen. Much
of what they express is actually their interpretation and playing back of the
things that have been said to them or the actions that they have observed in
others, especially their parents and caregivers. Sometimes entertaining,
sometimes saddening, the words and actions of young children are always mirrors
reflecting what they have heard and seen.
Those
who are the children of God have heard and seen His mercy and grace in the
things experienced by faith. In the first generation of believers, some of
those children had actually heard and seen Jesus in His earthly ministry. One
of them, the Apostle John, was inspired to write to the Church to clearly share
the Gospel and disprove the false teachings about Jesus that people had
introduced. John could write about Jesus and His work as that "which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes." But he also told those to
whom he had proclaimed "what we have seen and heard" that they had
the same fellowship with Jesus through His Word and Spirit. John reminded them
of what they had seen and heard by faith and then called them to live their
lives as reflections of it. A good example of what he was talking about is
found in the in Acts 4:32-34 when all the believers were "one in heart and
mind" and shared their possessions so that "there were no needy
persons among them." They responded to hearing and seeing the grace of God
by freely making use of their material possessions to bring God's love to
others. It's little wonder that when people saw their actions they held the
Christians in high regard.
We are
the current generation of those who have heard and seen the grace and mercy of
God in Christ Jesus. Like many generations before ours, we have not touched Him
with our hands or heard Him with our eyes, but we are eyewitnesses of Him and
the work He has done in us. We are among those "who have not seen and yet
have believed" (John 20:29). What do the people of the world see in us as
we live our lives in response to God's goodness? What do they conclude about
what we have heard and seen by observing us? What are we playing back and why?
Our actions, words, hopes, and priorities — our very lives —will certainly
reflect what we have heard and seen in the grace and mercy of God in Christ
Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment