Throughout the Easter Season, the daily devotions have been written by members of Faith Lutheran Church. Today’s writer is Kate Faulkner.
“Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.”
What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.” Acts 6:1-6
In this passage, the twelve disciples choose seven men to lead the physical and social ministry of the growing church so that they can continue to focus on God’s word. The idea of discipleship was foreign to me for a long time. I assumed that disciples were only the guys that walked around with Jesus.
When I finally thought to look up the definition of disciple, it just said, “pupil, or student of a teacher.” I can definitely get behind the idea that I have a lot to learn from Jesus, but even then, the word disciple still felt a bit strange. How could I claim to be a student of Jesus? I felt far too inadequate to describe myself like that.
One night recently, I was watching a stand-up comedian speak about activism. He described the need to move forward together while embracing “imperfect allies.” The term imperfect allies immediately struck me—that is a disciple of Christ today.
I do not have to be perfect to follow Jesus. I do not have to always get it right to be a student of Jesus. But I do have to try. God asks all of us to find our gifts, our callings, our purposes, and go out into the world, filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, to use them. This can feel overwhelming. In order to make this tall order manageable, I started with an inventory of my gifts, and I began to pray about how those gifts can be put into use. As you reflect in this season, consider– what is God calling you to do?
Let us pray: God our Father, help us to find ways to turn our faith into action and use the gifts that you have given us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Daily Devotions 
April 20, 2018 at 5:04 am |
Yes Kate, thank heavens we don’t have to be perfect to follow Jesus. We just need the will, and the Holy Spirit will find us the way. The Holy Spirit leads us to serve the Lord, recognize our talents and “turn our faith into action” as you also charge us to do.
May we all find our unique ways to turn faith into action.