“All the believers were together and had everything in common.” (Acts 2:44)
I have been thinking about this topic a lot, this whole aspect of being “together”. What does that exactly mean? Did the first church really have EVERYTHING in common? I doubt it, we are all unique individuals created by a creative God. What they did have in common was they spent time together reading scripture, sharing meals together, breaking bread – they had one common goal, learning more about God together as a community. What does that look like to us?
There was a tweet the other day by Carlos Whitaker that has really been resonating in my heart ever since I read it and I can’t shake it, here is what it said:
I think men need to blow up “accountability groups” and actually start studying scripture together. #ImagineThat
Now I think, and I think Carlos would agree too, that there is a time and a place for accountability and that it is an important discipline that we need in our lives, it is imperative that we have people in our lives that will hold us to a higher standard and that will cause us to grow and mature as a person. Here is the thing that I think resonates with me, I have been in “accountability groups” before and some have been great and some have been not so great, but they all end up in the same place eventually. You meet together or call one another on the phone and ask the “tough questions” that you have agreed to ask each other, one or more of the parties involved will wind up confessing some sin or some area they didn’t quite make it in that week or month, you’ll discuss how you could have done better and what you’re going to do to change that, and then you pray together and go about your business as usual. Did that encounter change you?
My opinion is that, while it may be important, we get in such a rut with our “accountability groups” that we are in because that’s what we’re supposed to do, that we begin missing out on the true potential that is possible there if we are taking it to the next level. As Carlos says in his tweet, we need to start studying scripture together, really digging into the Word of God together. That may look different for everyone – it could be a study guide, it could be just reading a book of the Bible together and just getting together and discussing it along with asking the “tough” questions. Whatever that looks like, it’s something that I believe that we NEED to get back to – back to meeting together and having EVERYTHING in common, challenging one another through the practicing of the Scripture that we are reading and not just saying “Well, do better next week I’ll be praying for you”.
I want to have that in my life right now, deeply want it – to just dig deeply in God’s word together and push each other into becoming better men of God.
What does that look like to you?
