Everlasting November 29, 2025 Devotional

ACTS 2:46-47 | ⁴⁶Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

I am fascinated by this simple phrase and its implications: “The first Christian community had the goodwill of all the people.”

This goodwill was not the product of the early church simply affirming the people of Jerusalem in their current spiritual states and moral situations. Far from it. The disciples expressed challenging truths, namely that previous spiritual assumptions had led to blindness and disaster to the death of God’s own Son. The ethnic security of “birth right” membership in the people of God must give way to repentance and a new kingdom entirely.

But despite the challenge of the gospel message, these early Christians did not simply stand in judgment over others. Their care, compassion, generosity, and love they shared with one another were powerful attractions. A good church has to love the broken world and not simply condemn it.

Do you see two dangers in today’s lesson?

Gracious God,

Don’t allow our beliefs about the world to be shaped by cultural trends. Root our faith in scriptural truth.

Amen.