“Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.” Acts 2:44

Recently a new social media app named BeReal gained popularity. 

The concept is simple. Once a day, a notification goes out to everyone on the app and they are meant to post a picture of what they are doing right then. The app takes a picture with the back camera and then takes a selfie so the users post one combination picture a day. In order to see the other pictures, you have to post. 

Sometimes you’ll see the show someone is watching or what chore they are accomplishing. There are several pictures of pets, friends, and family members.

What’s truly funny, though, is how many pictures of ceilings and floors show up on the feed. In fact, I think I’ve seen every type of flooring that one of my friends ever walks. Eighty-five percent of the time, he shares a picture of the floor and the top of his head. 

There are a handful of people I’ve friended that I know only online but most of my feed is people I know in real life. That allowed me to realize something very strange the other day. 

I care more about my real-life friend’s carpet than my internet friend’s children. 

Not in the sense of a blue carpet meaning more than living, breathing people I’ve never met, but in the idea that I can see that piece of carpet and say, “Oh look! You’re up at the church right now because I know what that floor looks like.” I’ve walked on some of those same carpets. Seeing them beneath his feet gives a sense of connection. 

We’ve been studying Acts 2 in my church recently and when I came across verse 44, all those flooring pictures helped add a new perspective to what “all things in common” meant. 

It doesn’t mean we all like the same foods, listen to the same music, or have the same personalities. In fact the Bible talks often about how wide and varied the people of the Church truly are. Too often we think “all things in common” means that the early church agreed on everything. 

What if instead we realize it meant they were in each other’s lives. Their knowledge was common. They knew who enjoyed cooking, which pets liked to cuddle versus scratch you to pieces, and what each other’s carpet looked like. 

What if the commonality was that they loved Jesus and loved each other and everything else was just something to learn along the way? 

Common ground or real connection

All too often we think that connecting with the people in our lives, forming bonds with those we encounter as we go, requires a deep personal understanding of motives and personalities and preferences and struggles. We think that unless we know someone’s deepest, darkest secret we aren’t connected to them. 

This sort of thinking leaves us isolated from most of the people in our lives. Yes, there will be people who know us better than others, people we feel more comfortable sharing with than others. Even Jesus had an inner circle among his disciples. 

Connection can be more, though. The more commonalities we find that connect us to each other, the stronger the web of love and care we weave into our lives. When we connect first and debate second, it’s harder for differences to drive us apart. 

This is particularly true in the Church. Fellow Christians, we need to connect on the commonality of loving Jesus first. Then, love for each other will easily follow.