The title of today’s reflection was bequeathed by an NCO from my Army days. He discovered a group of us puttering around our field position without our M-16s, which were propped against our vehicles and out of reach. Some of us wore helmets, some didn’t; same for gas masks, canteens and other field gear.
After delivering a scathing group rebuke for our disarray, he gathered our gaggle of unbloodied Cold Warriors for a reality check. He spoke from his experience as an enlisted man in Viet Nam, where he came under hostile fire for the first time.
His lesson was that when real action came, it was too late to gather up scattered gear and fight effectively. He portrayed his humiliating and near fatal experience with the aphorism,
When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
What brought his field lesson to mind was an abrupt order that Jesus gave to his disciples, which is in the upcoming Gospel for this Sunday.
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. (Luke 12:33)
Sell your stuff and give the money away? Go after some kind of heavenly treasure? This calls for action. It makes my bits of discipleship look token, minimal and grudging. I certainly don’t seem well prepared for an all-in response to a God who might make this big of an ask. The sword of the Spirit and all of the other spiritual warfare gear are in the trunk of my car or somewhere else out of reach, stowed for a brief showing on Sunday morning.
Many Christians are painfully aware that we aren’t the 100% givers, Olympians of faith, Special Forces or other images used to describe God’s people in the New Testament. And the temptation comes to run in circles, scream and shout by getting busy with stuff that isn’t all that consequential. We go to more meetings and get more bored and tired. We attend an extra service during the week, with the same result.
As a bumper sticker pinned on a church bulletin board joked, Jesus is coming. Look busy.
There’s something to be said for staying ready, but waiting to act. In fact, the same Gospel in which Jesus says sell all your stuff goes on to say,
Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. (Luke 12:35-36)
I started thinking about waiting at the Feast of the Transfiguration earlier this week. As Jesus appears in glory, Peter starts babbling about setting up a tent. But Jesus leads Peter and two others back from the vision, and charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. (Mark 9:9)
Jesus put on the brakes. He told them to wait, as what they had seen would not make any sense until the completion of something that he was yet to reveal.
Likewise, as Jesus prepared his church to receive the Holy Spirit, he ordered it to wait:
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5)
Later, Jesus would pour cold water from heaven on zealous missionaries, stopping their flitting about until they were ready to receive his guidance in place of their plans,
And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. (Acts 16:6-7)
I’m susceptible to the temptation to look busy or run in circles, scream and shout. I’ve been confessing some things over which I’ve been dithering or confused, and been sorely tempted to launch abrupt and probably fruitless actions. You know, to prove myself a good Christian.
In prayer, the Lord focused me in on the quality of something I’m already doing in his service. I became aware that I didn’t need to add “holy” stuff, but to honor and seek perfection of the holiness already present in work he’s not just assigned but provided for me.
Let me encourage some waiting. Not passive hanging around, but “active waiting,” as the church did while waiting for the Day of Pentecost,
…they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. (Acts 1:13-14)
So wait on the Lord. Pray and listen. Who knows? Christ might assign you something big, heroic and out there. Or he might just set a gentle hand on your shoulder and turn you toward something that’s been right there in reach all along.
Pray knowing that you are accepted and in good hands,
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
Another beautiful lesson, Tim. Thanks for the insight.