September 29, 2010

Don’t Just Stand There
Acts 1:10-11

10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

Pastor’s Blog

So which is it? Do I wait for God’s “go ahead” or “get busy” and get about my God given purpose in life?

Americans are people of action, not contemplation. We value go getters, hard workers, achievers, people who show up on time, put in extra time, climb the ladder and achieve. Americans love today’s verse. We see it as a call to action.

But what kind of action?

In Monday’s reflection, I emphasized the importance of acting only upon receiving direction and power from God through the Holy Spirit. This is typically done by praying a prayer based around the attiutde, “God your will be done, not mine”

In today’s verse, we see the messengers telling the disciples that Jesus will return. Not only will he come back, but somehow he’ll be the same.

Here we get vision, the big picture. We live in God’s world. God in Jesus had come to make us a new kind of people who live with each other in a new kind of way. He will come back one day and complete the project. We live in between.

What this does for me is give me a context for whatever decision I make. Is how I choose to think and act and decide in line with the world that Jesus is creating? This would mean accepting a whole lot of “not yet” in my life, accepting a whole lot of delayed gratification, pain, and temporarily unfulfilled dreams.

Because the world the Jesus is about creating and will have created when he returns isn’t about my immediate pleasures. It’s about an eternal life submitted to God and to others.