The Kindred Spirit

READ: Acts 6: 1-6
MORE LESSONS: Gen 14: 8-16
Bible Reading in One Y ear: Deuteronomy 17-19

The word kindred refers to a group of people who are related either by marriage, birth or association. The kindred spirit is the bond that exists between a people and that motivates or inspires them to go the extra mile to do things for one another. In other words, kindred in the spiritual realm means a spiritual affinity or bond. The wrong type of kindred spirit among believers is when we do things on the basis of tribal and ethnic groups. If within the church, you give certain privileges to a fellow tribesman, whether he merits it or not, that is a negative display of kindred spirit. Evil thrives when people are ruled by negative kindred spirits because they are blindfolded by tribalism. One of the first things I was taught as a believer is that a brother in the faith is more important than an unsaved blood brother. In those days you hardly saw a Christian brother staying with his own ‘brother’ who was not born again; he would rather live with a Christian brother. The Blood of Jesus that binds us together is stronger than tribal ties. The Spirit of Christ inside us makes us attach more importance to spiritual bonds than to natural ties.
As we read in today’s text, in the early church, as the number of the disciples increased there was a problem between the Hellenists and the Hebrews. The Jews were giving all the food distribution to their own widows and overlooking the Hellenist (Grecian) widows. This is not the kind of thing we want to see in the Church. Any tie or privilege that sets people against one another in the Church is negative kindred spirit. Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia: II Cor 2:12-13(NIV). This is the positive kindred spirit at work: when you see an open door and refuse to rest until you make your brothers in the faith to be partakers; when you go looking for a brother or a sister you no longer see in church; when for the sake of the love of Christ you go to any extent to care and help fellow members of the Body of Christ. It is only then you can say you have a positive kindred spirit. This is the kind of spirit in the children of darkness, the occultic and the children of the bond woman that has brought them great strength and unity. Members of the body of Christ ought to do better than those in the world because the Blood of Jesus that binds us together is stronger. And it is only by so doing that the world will see Jesus in us, if we love one another.

Prayer/Action
* Rebuke every strength of negative kindred spirit in our commission.
* Pray that the love of Christ will supersede every relationship.
* Pray that you will be an example of positive kindred spirit.

Like and Share!