Goodbook messages arrive every Monday, Thursday, and Friday with a
Scripture reading and ideas for how to apply the reading in our lives. We are
reading through the book of Acts. For additional Scripture reading, you can
follow the Advanced Track.Reading: Acts 17:21
(Advanced Track: Jeremiah 6-9)
21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)
Application:
Paul went into an intellectual environment where the Athenians loved ideas. They spent all their time listening and talking about the latest ideas. But I wonder, how much time did they spend acting on these ideas?
Sometimes we can spend so much time listening to new ideas and talking about new ideas that we do not act on them. This can happen in church. We listen to Scriptures, we listen to messages, we listen to music, and we may even talk about them with others. But do we act on what we are learning? Do we turn wisdom into practice? Do we turn knowledge into obedience?
Just one chapter earlier, Paul met a woman named Lydia at a prayer gathering. Lydia was a worshipper of God. God opened her heart to respond to the message. That’s what being a worshipper is all about. It’s not just about going to listen and talk for an hour every week. It’s about responding with faithfulness and action to God’s message all week long.
I once learned about the “one thing” principle. The teacher said that every time they hear a message, whether they like it or not, they prayerfully consider at least one thing they can do in response to honor God with their life. I like that practice, and I try to follow it. This is why I incorporate response cards with my sermons. I don’t want us to be a group of people who spend all their time discussing the latest ideas. I want us to be a community that spends their lives in active response to the Good News and the mission of God.
1) Is there something you know God is calling you to do right now? Is there something on your heart, some step of obedience that you feel God calling you toward? Act on it today or this week!
2) The next time you read the Bible or listen to a sermon, think about the “one thing” you can do in response. Share it with someone and then respond with faith and action.
3) Discuss new ideas, but make sure those discussions lead toward an active response of faithfulness and obedience to God.
Share your comments and ideas about how to apply this...
This is something I struggle with a lot. So often I think about how I want to talk about it with those close to me, and then act on it. And then life happens and I get distracted before I even get to discussing, let alone acting. Far too often laying in bed it is, "What was that I was thinking about earlier?" This is something on my mind regularly.
ReplyDeleteThis hits very close to home for me.
ReplyDelete1) Yes, though I'm not sure why God would pick me, I've been led on a mission to deliver a message. I'm not sure where it comes from really, it just happens. I thought it was my mind, my ambition, my passion, but it's not. I wasn't quite sure until I tried to move in a different direction and found myself in situations that I never intended, right back where God wants me.
2) I will continue to do this, although I'm not always effective in sound bites. I do a little better putting faith in action, perhaps on a more intimate basis, at least for the moment.
3) I try to be sensitive to the tolerance level of others. Frankly, it's not easy to deliver only a fraction of a message, so I tend to collect my thoughts on paper and provide little comments here and there, hopefully offering something of value to a fellow human being.
I pray that I may continue my journey toward faith and obedience, though I don't always measure up.