You know when you read through a book you’ve read before and something jumps out at you that hasn’t before. I know I’m not alone, especially when reading the Bible. I’ve been reading Acts since Easter and trying to pay attention specifically to what was happening in and among the early church. As I got to Acts 9 and through Acts 11, the Holy Spirit made two verse jump out at me like never before.
Acts 9:31
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
Acts 11:23
When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.
To me it’s pretty clear what help spread the gospel in the first century: focus on God. Today (and no different in the past) we allow the busyness of our lives to clutter out God and we slow the growth of Kingdom, seeing fewer people transformed from the work of God in their lives and even fewer on mission and loading there squirt guns and charging the gates of hell (thanks Mark Driscoll).
I’m guilty of it.
I let the internet (twitter, facebook, blogs, and just surfing), books, and not getting enough sleep get in the way of quality time with God. I actually go through cycles of this where I do well and then fall off (or is the new saying “fail whale”). I’ve let myself become undisciplined in this and know that something has to be done.
I want to look back on my life and see that I didn’t remove the clutter of the unnecessary and neglect my relationship with God and miss out on opportunities to impact the people around me and those God has allowed me to minister to. I don’t want to miss out on connecting with God so that I miss opportunities to change my life and allow Him to continue to transform me into the man He has called me to be.
