BY GREG CRUM
“And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Acts 2:46-47
There are activities in this life so important to our personal survival that we must participate in them daily. This is true concerning this temporal existence, but only because it mirrors a truth of the eternal. There are activities vital to our spiritual survival as well. So vital that the Bible encourages us to participate in them daily. Not yearly, or seasonally or weekly, but daily! What are these “dailies” and why are they so important? Acts Chapter 2, a scary read for some modern Christians, points us to the answer.
In Acts 2 and further in Acts 5:42 and Hebrews 3:13, we see that there’s a pattern of daily activities that the early church participated in. According to the text, they were “daily” in the temple, breaking bread, praising God, teaching and preaching Jesus, and exhorting or encouraging each other to stay strong in their faith in the Lord.
Breaking that down a bit, they were personally spending time each and every day in God’s presence (“in the temple”—that’s where His presence had manifested historically!), they were breaking bread (not just eating physical food, but filling up their spirits with the Word of God), and were praising God (they made a habit of prayer and proclaiming their thankfulness openly).
This is what the earliest believers in Jesus did every day. Think about that. We’re talking about some of the same people that walked around with Jesus in the flesh. They were the closest ever to the Holy Fire and they deemed it important enough to do these things, not occasionally, but every day.
Why? Why were these “dailies” in particular so important to the earliest church and why should they also be important to us to participate in daily? Well, because the early disciples realized that was where their strength was at! They knew from following Jesus around those three and a half years and watching his walk with his Father, that these dailies were a source of Jesus’ spiritual strength. They also participated in these dailies because they recognized that by doing them, they gave themselves the best chance to grow in their relationship with their Heavenly Father. Finally, they knew that these dailies would get and keep them spiritually and mentally “fit” for their Kingdom work.
Thinking of that last point for a moment, you do realize the great necessity of spiritual fitness in these last days, right? I hope so, but it seems that many modern believers don’t give it a second thought. Sure, we’ll spend some time in the gym or map out a diet plan for ourselves, but a lot of believers severely neglect their spiritual fitness. And it’s not just hurting them, it’s hindering the Kingdom of God as well.
Luke 9:59-62 and 2 Timothy 2:20-21 speak of being “fit” and “meet” for the kingdom and its work. That means we are in a spiritual and mental condition to be useful for God and to others in the work He has for us.
How “fit” are you at the moment? You might be thinking, “I don’t know, how do I know if I’m fit?” Well, how do you know if you’re physically fit? There are signs, right? Do you get winded easily when you attempt to work that body of yours? Are parts of your body taking up unwanted space in your clothes? Humm, yeah. So, if you’re not as fit as you should be physically, why is that? It’s because you’ve failed to consistently stick to a pattern of sound diet and exercise, right?
The same can be said as the reason many are not fit spiritually. We’ve failed to develop consistency in our daily spiritual activities!
Brothers and sisters, let’s resolve to get ahead of the “New Year’s resolutions” and get ourselves fit spiritually by doing the “dailies” that the earliest believers did. Perhaps that is the key to the Lord adding to the Body of Christ “daily” in our times just as He did in those first days!
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.