Devotional For Women

Monday April 15, 2013

There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.

Acts 9:36, NLT

Who makes a local church function well? We can usually think of several personality types who regularly make life in the local church miserable. But what kind of people provide balance? Leaders are needed, but their energies are often consumed by those who want to bend the church their way. The heartbeat of the church can most often be found among a tiny band of persons who resemble a woman named Tabitha. True to her calling, Tabitha only appears briefly in the New Testament: as a disciple of Jesus in Joppa, she was too busy to sit still in the spotlight very long. In fact, she probably didn't plan to get sick and found it a real nuisance to discover she was dying. There was too much to get done to leave any time for dying. When Tabitha died, Peter happened to be visiting in nearby Lydda. The Christians in Joppa sent him a message to come. Since they had prepared her body for burial, it isn't likely that they were expecting a miracle. They simply wanted to honor Tabitha by having Peter present at the funeral. When Peter arrived, Tabitha's wake turned into a wake-up call. How overwhelmed they must have been to receive back alive someone they were going to miss so badly--and to have witnessed such a miracle! Undoubtedly, Tabitha went back to her work. But Luke tells us many people came to believe because of what God did through her and to her. The life of a true disciple always leaves behind what we can only call a "sweet sorrow." Thankful tears create a better epitaph than words. But identifying someone's helpfulness in a quiet way can be very encouraging to them. Do you know a Tabitha type in your church whom you could appreciate in some special way today?