Repositioning to fire up first love: Small groups

Acts 2:42-47 Holy Spirit places us not only in the body but into small groups. In small groups we pray, share and practice ministering together. We share how Christ has been present in our daily prayer and lives all week. That one night together can stir us to “remember, repent and redo” all week long and keep stirring our hearts in the warmth of “first love.” On the other hand, when left alone all week, our fire and love will tend to grow cold because of sin and the spirit in the world.

Like a fire needs fuel and needs stirred, imagine a fire of burning logs compared to lone logs which lose their heat.

A physics teacher explains why lone logs don’t burn completely or produce much heat. A lone log can only heat the immediate area around it, consequently by itself it loses energy. A lone piece of wood cannot create an atmosphere of heat whereas wood bundled together actually create a micro environment where heat is conserved and passed to each other increasing the overall temperature. Together logs create air flow pockets, by lifting each other up and allowing oxygen to access more surface area. They burn hotter. Three or more pieces together form sheltered pockets of glowing embers that reflect heat to each other thereby sustaining the burn. Logs grouped together reduce the surface to volume exposure to cold air and increase the surface to volume area for hot air, each stick reinforcing the others ability to burn hotter and more complete.

Holy Spirit knew what He was doing in putting His burning ones in small groups that met house to house. These small groups bundled together reduced their exposure to cold air and reinforced each other’s ability to burn hotter and more complete.

Believing and togetherness were not separate acts. To believe was to be together and to be together was central to their believing. Scripture reads, “Those who believed were together,” not, “Those who believed stayed at home.” Through the small group we see the House God builds is to be set ablaze with passion and love so that we overflow into the world around us. We burn better for him when together. -PD