Thursday; April 12
Have you
ever thought about how early Christianity spread? Many of us are familiar with how the church
was formed in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, but how did it get from that
one fixed point to changing the world? I
am sure there were several things that came together to create growth and
expansion, but interestingly enough, one of the them was persecution. After Christianity got off to such a rousing
start in the home of Judaism, the Christians began to feel pressure and were
forced out of the city. Interestingly,
the early Christians didn’t leave their faith at home, like Johnny Appleseed
they took it with them and spread it wherever they went. The Bible tells us, “Therefore,
those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”. (Acts 8:4)
The believers refused to deny their beliefs and that was the beginning
of something wonderful.
When I
think of the sedentary world in which Christianity was born it gets me to
thinking how easy it should be to spread the message today. Modern transportation has made our world very
small. With our financial affluence we
are constantly coming and going – shouldn’t that give us a chance to spread the
message of Jesus?
Several
years ago, a friend of mine encouraged me to “spread a little God dust” on some
people I was meeting. That phase as
stuck with me throughout the decades. I
believe in the need to support “professional missionaries”, but I also think
that we can change the world whenever we venture out into the world. Like Johnny Appleseed, our job is to scatter
the message of hope and salvation wherever we go.
Are we
planning a journey? Are we planning on
taking Jesus’ message with us?
Think About It!