Question: What does it mean to be devoted?

Act 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

To give context to this verse... Peter the apostle had just given a Spirit inspired sermon to a large group of people and 3000 people became Christians. Then it goes to this verse. Where the Christians devote themselves to three basic things.

• The apostles teaching
• The breaking of bread
• Prayer

The result of this devotion there was a great change in the community.

This verse is very common in talks about the church and what it should look like and is often stereotypically used to show what community should look like.

Many argue that Christians should share everything like they do in a Acts 2 church. They may make it a point to have community meals. They may have Daily Prayer meetings. I have heard Christians argue whether sharing everything actually meant everything. Some say yes... the church could be a communal society and any community that is any good should be that way. Others say no way do we have to share everything... They say the verse is saying we share ourselves and our time and had Jesus in common and that is what everything means.

I do not want to get in this debate... though I will say usually what view the Christian takes depends on whether he or she calls themselves Conservative or a Liberal. Eventually in my experience this becomes a political debate rather than Christians hearing the word of God.

To be honest I don't care about politics I want to know what God word is saying

• God spoke and gave Commands to His people (through the apostles)
• The people (a lot of them) Devoted themselves to Gods commands
• A community existed where God was moving every day and He was definatly Glorified

The Problem with churches today is that they institutionalize things like prayer and meals and having things in common. I believe the first step in realizing a community where God is working in peoples lives is not to copy what other people did.

The First step is to devote ourselves to Gods teaching, devote ourselves to building relationships, and devote ourselves to prayer.

So now we get to what does it mean to be devoted?

according to http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/

devoted(p): (followed by `to') dedicated exclusively to a purpose or use ; zealous in devotion or affection

Now days it is rare to see anyone devoted to anything... the most devoted people are people who are usually devoted to something other than God. Often times people are devoted to a person, or a hobby, or sports, or video games. So often we Christians ask for prayer that we would have more time to have quiet times...because we have so many things going on.

We need to be convicted. As Christians we should not be pursuing God in our spare time... In fact we should have trouble squeezing everything else because of our devotion to Know God and our desire to know Him above everything else. Often times people say well I just glorify God in whatever I do even if it doesn't mean I'm praying or singing or working in a soup Kitchen. I have said this... and I guess I agree with it in theory though I have trouble carrying it through.  I think often we just use that as an excuse for not being devoted to God.  Be honest how often when you are working... are you praising God and giving glory to him... how often do you when you are hanging out with friends.  Im not saying we are going to be perfect... But we should be devoted, even when we put things in front of God we should be humble and repent... not make excuses.

If we want to see a community in which God is Moving... We must be Committed... Devoted... to following Gods word... to Prayer... to investing ourselves in one another. When we are devoted like this... I am convinced it won't matter what our politics are... what cultures we come from... whether you are a man or woman young or old... If we are Devoted Then we WILL see God move in and through one another and our community  and His name will be glorified.