During this time, as the disciples were increasing in numbers by leaps and bounds, hard feelings developed among the Greek-speaking believers—“Hellenists”—toward the Hebrew-speaking believers because their widows were being discriminated against in the daily food lines. So the Twelve called a meeting of the disciples. They said, “It wouldn’t be right for us to abandon our responsibilities for preaching and teaching the Word of God to help with the care of the poor. So, friends, choose seven men from among you whom everyone trusts, men full of the Holy Spirit and good sense, and we’ll assign them this task. Meanwhile, we’ll stick to our assigned tasks of prayer and speaking God’s Word.” Acts 16:1-4 MSG
Par for the course, when groups of people are involved “hard feelings” will often rear their ugly heads. One side will get offended by the other side.
Instead of ignoring this by pushing it under the carpet, the Twelve called a meeting of the disciples. They knew that God had called them to share the Word of God with people. They didn’t let the enemy distract them from their God given purpose. Instead, they offered a solution to keep unity in their group. By assigning a group of men to distribute the food fairly it kept the peace.
The two things that stood out to me about these verses is 1) They immediately addressed the Greek-speaking believers concerns. They didn’t pooh-paw them, didn’t ignore them, but listened and then took action. 2) They honored the gifts and calling that God had placed on their lives. The twelve disciples knew that their purpose was to preach and teach the Word of God. They were loyal to their assignment.
I think those are two lessons that we could definitely learn from in this day and age. If we approached situations in the same way, I think we might see more unity in the world today.
Until next time with Jesus’ help let’s be less messy and choose what’s better.