God Lover

This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught. – Mark 1:1; Luke 1:1-4

There once was a great rabbi named Hillel who loved learning the Scriptures above all else. In his day, one had to pay a daily fee in order to be able to go to school and learn. Hillel was extremely poor and earned only one small tropaik a day. Part of it he paid to the academy in order to be able to study in the evenings after working all day. The rest supported his family.

One day he had not even earned a whole tropaik and could not afford the entrance fee. So that evening, he climbed up on the roof to listen to the lectures. He was so engrossed in the study of the Word going on that he didn’t notice that it was snowing. Soon he was covered in several feet of snow.

Fortunately, the next morning people noticed a human form was blocking the sunlight coming through the skylight. When they climbed up to see who was up there they found Hillel nearly frozen to death!

Luke addressed his gospel and the book of Acts to “Theophilus”. This name literally means “God lover”. Luke must have had a wonderful relationship with this person to have decided to write two whole books to him! Luke knew that Theophilus’ relationship with God was so important to him that he would appreciate the information on the life of the Master. Truth was so important to the both of them that they dedicated inordinate amounts of time checking the facts and pursuing leads.

As a pastor, I can pretty much predict the rise and fall of church attendance by the rainy days and holidays. If I hear that someone has a cold or an aching back, I can be fairly sure that they won’t be attending next Sunday. We make all kinds of excuses for not attending church or studying our Bibles. “It’s my only day to sleep in!” “I have to play golf sometime!” “I watched ER too late and now I’m too tired for my devotions.”

Oh! If only we had a generation of God Lovers; people who loved the Master so much that they would sacrifice parts of their meager salaries in order to be able to study the Word. If only there were people who would lie in the snow all night long just to hear the Scriptures explained – who would spend months tracking down other Christians just to hear their testimonies and write them down. If only we were all named Theophilus!