Becoming a Man

As my son Andy gets older (he is now almost 2 and a half) I see him becoming a man. I know what your thinking... How can he already be learning the concepts of manhood? Well, the answer is... It is in our Godly nature. Most of the time, I have to give him direction, give him guidance, or simply order him to do something. But, every once in a while he will surprise me. I walked into the living room the other day and saw that he had attempted to clean the room. He lined all of his toys up against the wall in an unorthodox, unorganized manner that would make only his father proud. It was his decision to get up and do something on his own accord that pleased me, not the overall success of his actions.

This reminds me of the second missionary journey of Paul, Silas, and Timothy. Paul decided on his own that he would go from Antioch to the previous cities evangelized by his previous mission. After he visited those cities, he longed to go to Asia and eventually Ephesus. The Holy Spirit directed him NOT to go into Asia but gave him no more direction. He chose to go north on his own judgment, and eventually was lead by the spirit to Troas and evangelized modern day Greece. He eventually (years later) made his way to Ephesus and stayed there in ministry for some thirteen years.

You may ask, what do these two subjects have in common. Well, sometimes as Christians we have our own spiritual, and personal goals. God also has a plan and sometimes seems to disrupt our goals. On the other hand, we as Christians need to grow in faith and make decisions on our future spiritual and personal goals on our own sometimes. God wants us to use our surroundings (That he determines most of the time) to make an informed decision on movement. Like my son, we must at some point start stepping out in spiritual knowledge and moving toward our and God's goals for our life without the constant demand for prophetic guidance. Sometime people say... we are waiting on God to tell us what to do, when all they really are doing is delaying the action due to lack of faith in their own decision making.

It is time that Christians stop acting like babies and make some decisions. I am not saying rush the Lord, but i am saying do not doubt yourself in stepping out in faith toward your ultimate goal of furthering the kingdom. Whether that means going into ministry, or simply talking to your co-worker about Jesus. It is your turn... stand up and do something.

AG