“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” — Hebrews 10:24 (NLT) “Acts of good works” is a mantra that gets thrown around in Christian circles. What does it mean to you? Do you believe it is like a merit badge of honor, that you must do good works to earn salvation? Maybe your thought is that we are saved by grace alone, and good works have no bearing on our salvation. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to

They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers. Acts 2:42, The Message ‘Why do we have to go?’ ‘Because they’re family that’s why.’ They’re weird, there’s always lima beans, and I would rather stay home. I only say this in my head about the family reunion because it’s rude as a child to say the thing everyone is already thinking. Bound by blood, obligation and corn casserole to be together, we go. And there we meet with family to which one senses a magnet’s pull to be around and whose smile across the room feels sun-warm on the face and also those you walk the long way ‘round to get tea because they always look grumpy like they