Prayer for the City

Our Local Communities

This devotional is written by Anita Jones. Marylebone dweller. Light sleeper. Anita is married to Tom Jones.

Hebrews 10:24-25

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Reflection

Since the lockdowns we've been out of the habit of meeting up together. It's timely to be reminded, by Scripture, of the importance of doing so. Meeting together encourages us. It creates opportunities and inspiration to embrace love and good deeds.

Good deeds can be as simple as smiling at someone next to us in the shopping queue. It is having an attitude of openness to those around us, a heart quick to love.

Good deeds are acts of generosity. They might be physical: Tom and I recently had the chance to offer our home as accommodation to a church member who was in between rental leases. Acts of kindness like this rarely go unrewarded....not only did it encourage our guests' faith in God's provision, it also meant someone was there to let Tom in when he'd locked himself out!

Good deeds are also spiritual: Being willing to talk with others about Jesus' transformative power in your life. The way Jesus frees you from guilt, fear, shame. Good deeds include prayer. I regularly pray over the phone, with another church member, and it spurs us on in our love, in our willingness to do good.

The older I get the more I believe, 'It is better to give than to receive'. God somehow makes the blessing go both ways. It's incredible. None of us can out-give God. When I step out of my comfort zone, choose to spur others on, choose to meet up with other Christians, choose to be generous, to be kind.... I, myself receive the benefits. This is God's economy. So different to the world's.

And best of all Jesus empowers us to do it. We don't act in our own strength or determination. It's all possible through God's grace, as Hebrews 10:19-25 explain.

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