I am currently in the midst of meditating on a passage of scripture from Acts 9:31 which gives us yet another “picture” of what the church looks like. It says:
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” Acts 9:31
ESV Translation
This is such a concise and clear passage, that it needs no elaborate explanation, though it may help us to just list the various elements of these apparently thriving churches.
- They had peace
- They were being built up
- They walked in the fear of the Lord
- They were comforted by the Holy Spirit
Can you imagine what it would be like to experience this in our church contexts throughout the body of Christ? This is not saying that there weren’t problems, challenges, sin, persecution, and other things that distracted God’s people from the list above, But rather speaks of their focus so that these daily distractions faded in their minds.