Why look to the sky?
Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Posted by Drew
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky?” [Acts 1:11]
I was just reading Acts 1. Two thoughts that stick out.
1. The disciples were staring up into heaven when Jesus ascended. Angels came down to them saying, “What are you looking up there for?” Jesus was going to return just the way he came, to be sure, but the disciples weren’t supposed to just wait around, staring up into the sky for this event to happen. They were to be doing stuff until he came.
2. One of the things they were supposed to do was wait for the Holy Spirit to anoint them. So they went and had a prayer meeting in Jerusalem until this happened. Although, again they didn’t just sit around waiting. They did stuff. They appointed another disciple to take the place of Judas.
These men who changed the world were never just sitting around waiting for God to come and act. They got a vision of what God was going to do, and then they did something about it — either something directly related to this thing (prayer meeting) or something productive that would help them once this thing occurred (appointing a new disciple).
The state I’m currently in looks like this: I have a pretty clear vision of what God’s going to do (I believe He’s called me into church planting and pastoral leadership), but I’m not in a place where I am actively pursuing this happening yet. I refer to my current state as being in a “holding pattern” waiting to land. It’s a frustrating place where I feel like I’d love to just go out and apply for pastor positions and start doing my career. I know it’s not quite the right time yet, so I’m waiting.
But, that’s just the thing — I’m just waiting. I’m not exactly in a state where I’m being productive, doing stuff until that time comes to pass when I’ll church plant or whatever. Instead, I’m just going through the motions of doing ministry with my church, but not really being productive in developing myself so that I will be a responsible pastor one day (or even today in my own ministry within the church).
This is the sort of state that should make angels come down from heaven to ask what I was doing and to tell me to knock it off.