The Blessing Contagion

The church has morphed and changed so much over the past couple thousand years. What started out in individual’s homes, eventually moved into colossal buildings. There was a familiar feeling among the early church. People crammed into a house to pray and learn and be together. The love between believers was the crux of its effectiveness. People cared for each other. Peter was made aware that orphans and widows still needed to be taken care of and so established people to make sure that they were. Stephen, the first to die in the name of Christ, was among these people. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and made sure that the people were given food (Acts 6-7). It was also important to visit those who were persecuted. They ate together. Prayed together. Suffered together.

Things have changed significantly since then. Now we gather in large buildings. We barely know the people we sit next to every week. We are comfortable in our nice chairs watching a speaker on a stage, and then we all go home and have lunch. Most people probably don’t attend any other function other than Sunday morning and maybe a bible study. But, the lack of the community has effected the church to the core. We are no longer lifting each other up as we should be. We do not know the needs of the people sitting next us, let alone meet them. When was the last time you sat down with someone and actually prayed for them?

So what are we doing wrong? Well, I have a radical suggestion. What if the church was never meant to be this way? What if we were meant to be a small group of people who cared for each other? What if it was better to meet the needs of the people around us rather than pool our money and send it off to some place, to people, we don’t know.

I’m not saying that helping missionaries isn’t good. In fact, we should do that. But, I can’t help but feeling like are missing out on a big blessing when we just send money out like that is the solution to everyone’s problem.

What if we were the solution? Maybe our neighbor needs $20 for gas, or a family that is going through a hard time could use a meal or two. We can be the blessing!

Catch this. Sometimes we pray and pray for things, but God doesn’t just drop food off at the door or send us a check signed from heaven. Instead, someone is prompted by God to give. So who is blessed? The ones who received it or the ones who gave in love and obedience? Both are blessed!

So if we are aware of the needs of those around us and are open to God’s prompting to bless and therefore be blessed, then we are community without need, filled with blessing and the Holy Spirit. This is then contagious as others seek to bless those around them and so on and so forth. Such a thing could tackle needs that we have known about but felt helpless to take on such as poverty, hunger, and slavery.

Are we not called to take on the thing the enemy has established in this world? Yet we are not always open to the prompting of God in our own neighborhoods. This must be accomplished, brothers and sisters. We are not to be blind to the things that are needed by those around us. If we cannot be faithful with the little things, then we will never be able to take on the bigger problems.