A PUZZLING MIRACLE
Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which means Dorcas or Gazelle. She was full of good works and acts of charity. Acts 9:36, R.S.V.
They say that it costs between $250,000 and $500,000 to replace a key corporate executive who has retired or become ill. This explains why large companies are putting so much emphasis on keeping their top men healthy. It makes good financial sense.
For reasons far greater than financial, the early church kept their key people working for the Lord for as long as possible. How could you ever replace the apostle Paul, or John the Beloved, even if you had large sums of money? Their wisdom, their spiritual maturity, was irreplaceable.
In this light, it seems that Peter came up with a rather novel approach to the problem of leadership attrition. When Tabitha, who was an important person in the church, became ill and died, he went into her home, prayed over her, and brought her back to life! As thrilling as this miracle was, I've often puzzled why it happened to this relatively unknown lady, yet no one returned the favor to Peter himself. Why didn't Peter bring some important preacher or gospel writer back to life to extend his service?
But Peter wasn't working alone; he was taking his instructions from God. And God sees things that we often miss. Perhaps the believers in Joppa needed some potent evidence of God's caring activity in their midst, but I suspect there may have been another reason why Tabitha was brought back to life. That reason is found in the description of the way she lived her life--a life filled with loving acts and caring deeds.
It is when people's lives flow with acted love that they become most effective in portraying the character of God. More than spoken words, the world has learned to trust what people do in the natural, acted patterns of daily living. Tabitha was making a powerful impact in favor of God's reputation throughout the whole town. Bringing her back to life so that her witness might continue to grace that early church was God's way of saying how vital her gift was to His cause. This should give all of us a new appreciation for those gentle, often unknown saints in the church whose passing may never make headlines but would cause the poor and needy to weep. They are telling vital truths about God!
Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which means Dorcas or Gazelle. She was full of good works and acts of charity. Acts 9:36, R.S.V.
They say that it costs between $250,000 and $500,000 to replace a key corporate executive who has retired or become ill. This explains why large companies are putting so much emphasis on keeping their top men healthy. It makes good financial sense.
For reasons far greater than financial, the early church kept their key people working for the Lord for as long as possible. How could you ever replace the apostle Paul, or John the Beloved, even if you had large sums of money? Their wisdom, their spiritual maturity, was irreplaceable.
In this light, it seems that Peter came up with a rather novel approach to the problem of leadership attrition. When Tabitha, who was an important person in the church, became ill and died, he went into her home, prayed over her, and brought her back to life! As thrilling as this miracle was, I've often puzzled why it happened to this relatively unknown lady, yet no one returned the favor to Peter himself. Why didn't Peter bring some important preacher or gospel writer back to life to extend his service?
But Peter wasn't working alone; he was taking his instructions from God. And God sees things that we often miss. Perhaps the believers in Joppa needed some potent evidence of God's caring activity in their midst, but I suspect there may have been another reason why Tabitha was brought back to life. That reason is found in the description of the way she lived her life--a life filled with loving acts and caring deeds.
It is when people's lives flow with acted love that they become most effective in portraying the character of God. More than spoken words, the world has learned to trust what people do in the natural, acted patterns of daily living. Tabitha was making a powerful impact in favor of God's reputation throughout the whole town. Bringing her back to life so that her witness might continue to grace that early church was God's way of saying how vital her gift was to His cause. This should give all of us a new appreciation for those gentle, often unknown saints in the church whose passing may never make headlines but would cause the poor and needy to weep. They are telling vital truths about God!
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