A Season for…
1. Showing - v. 27-28 - Agabus being a prophet was literally speaking God’s word for the Church. Today we have His perfect revelation that reveals everything necessary for life and Godliness from the beginning to the end of time. There is no longer a need for this type of revelation. However we all need to be about the business of prophesying or showing the Word of God to those around us. This is a season without end.
2. Suffering - v. 28 - Suffering is nothing new. Even in this verse there are two famines mentioned, one in the past and one to come. Jesus didn’t mince any words with his disciples concerning suffering. He told them plainly that if He had suffered then they too would suffer for His names sake. We should not be surprised then when we come into suffering, God’s word has shown us it has happened in the past and will happen again. Fortunately it is a season that passes in time.
3. Sharing - v. 29 - What an incredible act of generosity by a group of mixed believers, mostly gentile to give to relieve the suffering of their Jewish brothers. It is interesting that their gift came with no strings attached. They shared as each had ability. You know some would use this as an excuse to not give generously however if you consider how you actually utilize the resources God has given you will realize that it is not ability you are lacking in but desire. We can find ways to come up with the money for the things we want but when it comes to giving God often gets the short end of the stick.
4. Serving – v.30 - These two men were willing to be used by God in so many ways. They weren’t above doing even menial tasks like delivering an offering to the brethren in Judea. So often we get in the habit of job shopping. That is the art of trying to find a job in the church that will require as little of our time and commitment as possible. Then if we are talking about the jobs that are only behind the scenes we don’t even consider those. We need to be about the practice of simply serving to meet the need no matter what it is.
The seasons mentioned above are clearly not the only ones we will encounter in our Christian walk however the season itself is not as important as how we weather it.
