Bible Study with Jairus – Acts 6

Caring in love and ministering in the Word of God
Bible Study with Jairus – Acts 6

Acts 6 is very brief. In the past, my understanding was that these Greek-speaking widows were neglected, and the apostles were too busy to take care of them. The apostles said that the more important thing is to pay attention to the word of God (verse 2). There was no time to deal with these widows, but since they were protesting and making trouble, there was still a need for someone to deal with their need. Finally, Stephen and others were found. These people were not apostles, just ordinary disciples of Jesus who were spiritually mature due to it being the beginning of the apostolic era. Stephen was not only good at cooking, but also full of the Holy Spirit, faith, wisdom and the words of the Lord. Miracles also followed him and the other men who were serving. In short, the apostles did not have time to deal with these matters so they were handed over to others.
But when we started talking about this, we found that the Holy Spirit led us to a broader understanding of the situation. I felt that the words and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit were that these complaining widows were not only materially poor, but also lacking the Lord's abundance in the spirit. Therefore, the apostles’ decision was not only to arrange and provide meals for them, but also to allow people like Stephen, who were full of the Holy Spirit and the Word of the Lord, to both serve meals and dispense the Spirit and the Word to these poor people.

Poverty limits our imagination
I was born in an ordinary family in rural China, the bottom rung of society. The people in our Bible Study also include many Chinese from the same background, so we naturally talk about poverty. Our experience of poverty has not only caused us to be materially poor, but also limited our imagination and made us lack self-confidence in many ways.
We talked about the spirit of poverty in modern Chinese society, American society and even among some Christians in the US. The external poverty is not terrible—the most terrifying thing is that poverty limits our imagination. Some of the women in our study said that American social scientists investigated the impact that poverty has on human nerves. This study showed a decline in human learning ability. Therefore, some educators in the United States hope to include children from poor families in special education.

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