My husband was asked to write a daily word for our old church in Atlanta. Apart from his silly but truthful sense of humor in the first paragraph (I am indeed a goddess of love and beauty...LOL) I think he hit it on the head in the scripture he speaks about and I thought I would share!

Daily Bread
December 29th, 2008

Today's Passage: Acts 6:1-2


Brian Boughner is a 35 year old manly man who is married to the goddess of love and beauty, Jeanne, and they have an incredible beautiful daughter named Selah. Brian and his wonderful family have recently moved from Atlanta and now live in the amazing Greenville, South Cackalaky. They miss their Cumberland family and hope more of them would come up and visit. A little more about Brian... Brian's greatest accomplishment was winning both the '92 and '93 Swedish Air Guitar World Championship. He still holds the world record for most notes played during a 60 second period. His goal in life is one day to be fit enough to be Alan Scott's stunt double. Brian also enjoys long walks on the beach at sunset and has the largest Hello Kitty collection this side of the Mississippi.Key

Verse:In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. - Acts 6:1-2Central Truth:In our serving in ministry, let's make sure we don't overlook the "least of these"... or rather, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Every Church Has Them

So in a nutshell… The disciples were busy preaching the gospel and doing the Lord’s work. Their numbers were increasing, they were growing leaps and bounds, God was doing amazing miracles in their midst, and yet, there was a problem. They were negligent of the fact that that certain widows were not getting their fair share of the food.

When reading this, I’m reminded of 2 things:

First, the Apostle James says that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” I love this verse… and it’s pretty self explanatory… PURE religion is taking care of orphans and widows, and living a righteous life. The disciples very quickly realized this and as you’ll find out in tomorrow’s devotional, they began to take measures to make sure they weren’t dropping the ball in this very important area of ministry.

Second, even when a church is growing and busy doing the work of ministry, there could be some very important people in God’s eyes that are being neglected. Jesus talks about these people when he says, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ Have you asked yourself recently if there are any at Cumberland that could possibly qualify as being one of the “least of these?” A widow? A child of a single parent? A ‘fringe’ person? Every church has them. I think about myself… sure, I was a part of the worship team and was very busy on Sunday mornings, however, how many times did I pass by folks that were not a part of a regular crew of friends and never made an effort to say hi and get to know them. Even to just introduce myself and simply ask if there is anything that I can be praying for them.