@FirstChurchofJerusalem
Today's Early Church Wisdom
“I shall not hesitate also to put into ordered form for you, along with the interpretations, everything I learned carefully in the past from the elders and noted down carefully, for the truth of which I vouch. For unlike most people, I took no pleasure in those who told many different stories, but only in those who taught the truth. Nor did I take pleasure in those who reported their memory of someone else’s commandments, but only in those who reported their memory of the commandments given by the Lord to the faith and proceeding from the Truth itself. And if by chance anyone who had been in attendance on the elders arrived, I made enquiries about the words of the elders—what Andrew or Peter had said, or Philip or Thomas or James or John or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and whatever Aristion and John the Elder, the Lord’s disciples, were saying. For I did not think that information from the books would profit me as much as information from a living and surviving voice.
~ Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60–130 AD) From the Preface to his lost ‘Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord’
This week's Psalm is Psalm 31 'My Rock, My Shield, My Song'

Returning To The Simplicity Of Walking With God

In the first Christian community at Jerusalem in the first century, a simple lifestyle of daily walking and talking with Jesus appears to have been normative, which is why the apostle Paul talks of “Not knowing anything amongst you but Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:2), and the writer of Hebrews speaks of “Looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). God’s guidance can come in many different forms, and there’s no suggestion that we will all hear from God in identical ways, but one thing is clear: “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Don’t wait for God to speak to you or appear before you! You may wait forever! Practice His presence with you and imagine Him speaking with you. Do this each day, when you awake, and as you deal with the day’s events. Include Jesus in your life and you will soon see a big difference in how things go for you. That’s what they did at the beginning and it’s as necessary now as it was then.