And so the believers..

And so the believers gave themselves to the study of the scripture, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer. (Paraphrased)

I remember how much Jaya used to stressed on this particular verse in Acts 2:42 when he spoke from the pulpit many years ago. And I often thought, why does he has to always repeat this verse? So much so that it was and still is, stuck with me. I havent been faithful in prayer meetings and bible study in church, although I do get feeding from BSF. And I couldnt see how this verse could be that..applicable in my life. I reasoned that I have other fellow brethren to fellowship with etc etc. And strangely, (I believe this is the Lord's doing), this verse came to life during camp recently. The theme for the AFC 2011 was "Issues facing Christians today; church, family, work and country" and Esther 4:14 was taken as the main verse. And when Uncle Wong took on the topic Family, I had little expectations. But he drew our attention to a picture of a tree, where it draws its nutrients and essential feeding from the ground through its roots. And it has to go deep in the ground for water and the deeper the roots go, the stronger it becomes and the better fruits it bears. And so, he compares this tree to a Christian. Our journey starts when the Sower sows the seeds and seeds that fall on good ground, grow. It gets water and essential elements from the nature and grow. Christians feed on the Word of God, taught by the Holy Spirit and grows and bear fruits. Other elements essential to us is fellowship among brethren. We cannot stay at the surface and expect to grow..we have to go deep into the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to work. This picture of a tree also represents the family of God. To root strongly, you need the encouragement and support of fellow brethren. And while listening to this, Acts 2:42 came to mind. And then, it struck me. What have I been mssing all these years? Yes, sometimes grudges can overwhelm so much that it blurred our vision to see through them but that is also allowing space to the evil one to attack. Perhaps one of the biggest lie is that we can survive on our own without being among the brethren.

And so, the believers gave themselves to the study of the Word, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer.

These 4 pillars of a Christian are something that fellow believers can only share with another fellow believer. We cannot do this with a non-believer because they would not appreciate or understand these. After all, the bible did say we are a peculiar lot.