I was in my Bible Study Class this past Sunday and in our discussion we were talking about Phillip being led by God to walk down a road that was off the beaten path. No word about what could or would happen by God....just start walking. (Acts 8:25-40) You know what Phillip did? He started walking! It may not sound like much of a gesture to you, but to me and a certain Ethiopian eunuch it was earth shattering. Why me? It reminded me of the freshness of a faith that early on would basically walk down that road without much hesitation, knowing that God was going to lead me where I needed to go. It also helped me remember that God still works things out moment by moment and the expression of our faith to believe in Him doing it is the fuel for our very life. It also helped me realize that Phillip's faith was not really radical faith, but just faith. You remember faith don't you. Maybe this will refresh your memory. The disciples were trying to cure a man's son from a demon possession and they were failing miserably and asked Jesus, "Why could we not drive it out!" And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. Matthew 17:20 In that moment Jesus showed them a glimpse of what faith really is and in that moment they knew that faith was real. In the moment of our Bible Study I read of Phillip's faith and saw him immediately do what God told him to do, I knew once again what real faith is. It's living in the moment and following God's direction totally trusting that He is with you and working through you.
Now we see the effect of that faith. The Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53 and not understanding what he was reading and up runs Phillip to him and shares Jesus with him and he accepts and is baptized right after his conversion. Let me trim it down for you a bit.
God says walk down the road.....Phillip walks down the road......Phillip meets a eunuch and explains God's Word to him and shares Jesus......The eunuch receives Christ......Phillip baptizes him.......Phillip is swept away to the next thing. Whew!! Simple faith lived out "in the moment" and under the direction of the Holy Spirit!
After thinking about it for a while, I started realizing that we don't live so much In the Moment, but For The Moment. You see we anticipate and worry and fret so much about what will or will not happen in the days ahead that we miss what God is doing In the Moment and we miss today by looking at tomorrow. Paul wrote to the high strung Philippians about this very subject and here's how he addressed it. Philippians 4:4Rejoice in the Lord always ; again I will say, rejoice ! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. The road map for living in the moment is also a step by step process. Here's how it goes: Rejoice in your relationship with Jesus.....Your spirit will be gentle and your prayer life will be known by all who meet you.....Peace will be the end result that will not only affect you, but everyone you meet.....The peace will keep you from straying away from God on a daily basis....You will dwell on the important things of life and nothing else.....That peace will be with you in every moment of every day..... If you get talked into living for some hypothetical event or moment down the road, you will stand a chance of missing what God wants you to learn from today. On the other hand, if you live today to the fullest, you will start a process that will be something you can look back on and see God's Hand guiding you all the way. That means you are letting God be God and not you. Nothing will catch you off guard. Nothing will get you off course. And that is because God is taking care of the details. He's good with that and we should be too.
Oh, by the way, If you aren't studying God's Word by yourself and with others you will miss all the good stuff. Don't be so easily swayed....READ THE BOOK!!! Live IN THE MOMENT!
The Pilgrimage continues....
David Warren
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