2024_09_04 Insight Post- Rusty Coram
This week’s reading- Acts 9:36-43
Years ago, I was asked to conduct a funeral for the father of a friend, someone I had only met once. My approach in situations like this is to ask others who knew the person who passed how they will remember him. No one had anything good or positive to say about this guy. He was mean, unkind, and generally disagreeable to others. The only quasi-positive thing I got was from a nephew who said, “he came to my wedding.” Seventy years of life, and this was it.
Dorcas was very different. She was known as “a believer who was always doing kind things for others, especially for the poor.” Acts 9:36 (The Living Bible) Her genuine care and concern for others developed a deep love and respect for her, and her death was an overwhelming loss to the seaport community of Joppa. Her loss was so devastating that when the people heard that Peter was in a neighboring town, they immediately sent people to get him to come in hopes that he could do something. Peter arrived to a see a group of heartbroken widows who had been loved by and loved Dorcas. With compassion and concern for this community, Peter prayed, and in an amazing display of God’s power, she was restored to life.
The church was in its infancy, and special displays of God’s presence and power like this helped get the message out. In this case “The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.” Acts 9:42–43 (NLT)
Had Dorcas been an arrogant and proud benefactor to the poor or silent about her faith in Christ I don’t know that this would have happened. But God saw something in this village that He wanted to continue and build on. Dorcas lived her life as a true believer, and her humble service and resurrection became a springboard for many to find Jesus, too.
We all have lives that can have a lasting influence and impact. Like Dorcas, God is ready to use us if we surrender our talent, resources, mind, and heart to Him. We can’t really control how people will remember us, but we do have control over the memories they get to choose from.
Rusty Coram
Senior Pastor