It’s Time!

In the Christian Church, we have lost our sense of urgency. And by urgency, I equate that to timing. I am referring to the spiritual awareness that from the very beginning,  God set everything into motion.

Think of it as the cadence for all things that has dictated the flow of how God moves in Creation. By stepping into the Godly meter of time, we are moved along in the spiritual stream or the flow of God.

Being in this flow allows us to be spiritually sensitive to God’s ebbs and flows. But it is at those times when we are not aware of the God’s flow that we may find ourselves in the midst of a spiritual “dry place.”

It is here that we lose our sense of God’s timing–and we find that we do not thrive, but instead, we exist perfunctorily (that is, unconsciously)–being out of step with the “master drum-major” of all things-God.

It’s Time to Get Ready!

Perhaps we are “perspective-challenged” in believing the truth that “for every time there is a season”–we believe that our season is always “afar off” or, “in a little while…” or simply, that it is just not our time!

We are not positioned with the anticipation that God almost never starts anyone from zero–He always grabs someone out of time, and places them in time to do His will…even if what they are doing out of time does not line up with His glory. (See Apostle Paul!)

Therefore, we must prepare as though what we are carrying within us, will be birthed sometime soon. We must begin to recognize that for the body of believers, our season of preparation is now, because God’s time is nigh!

Think for a moment of the power that is available to the church, “…greater things that these will you do in my Name…!” That is, when we begin to believe and act as though we were in our season and leverage the Power and Authority of Christ, things have to change!

We have all heard the phrase that, “a plant that is in season produces fruit.” So, it is time for us to get in step with God and get in season and began producing fruit! But for many of us, we are disconnected from the true spirit of God, having no idea of what time it truly is, and our harvest season is sporadic and indeterminate; and our fruit is weak and inconsistent!

It is Time to Move!

Several years ago, there was a man in our Men’s Sunday school class (which I taught) who was always on time – in fact, he was better than on time, he was always early! Usually he could be found sitting in his car, waiting for the church to be opened on Sunday morning. But one day, things began to change…both in his life and in ours….

Seemingly overnight, his attendance became spotty–and after a while, he didn’t come at all. Each week, I would stand up in front of the class, and ask the other men,

“Where is brother V…?”

Even now as I think back, I remember clearly, that no one really was able to give a precise response. One would say, “I heard this…,” and another would say, “I heard that….” But because no one in that class had a sense of urgency, we didn’t move. The truth was, we didn’t understand the time.

Sadly, for the next several consecutive Sunday mornings, this was the way it went. Finally, one man came back, and reported that he had tried to visit the brother, but when he went to the door, a young woman would not let him in.

“Up High…Down Low…Too Slow…”

To say that we were “slowful” (this is church word), was an understatement. If you have never heard the word “slowful”–just read it as “full of being slow” and it describes a nature of hesitancy of action, especially found in the House of God!

Finally, we began to sense that the timing of the season had changed. Suddenly, it was time to do more than just asking about this brother’s absence– it was time to act! That is, it was time to do something about his absence.

As one, we rallied together as one, as we began piecing together the bits of information of what was going on as we prepared to “go after” our brother.

“One for All…and All for One”

As things unfolded, the young woman who had blocked the entry of our initial visit, described herself as our brother’s “care-taker.” Unfortunately, it turned out that she was in fact, a rumored prostitute, and had moved in.

And from all indications, we discovered that not only had she moved in, but she had also begun to “operate her trade” out of our classmate’s house. When we arrived at his house, we found that most of his belongings had been stolen. These items were simply carted off, item by item by the many unauthorized male visitors.

Understanding that this was a potentially dangerous situation, the police (another student in our class) was on hand to make sure we got in. While the “care-taker” scurried about trying to clean up the home, there was both aromatic and  visible evidence of dog feces throughout the house.

Too Late to Be On Time!

As we crossed the threshold of the house, we were met with the stench of dog droppings and urine. Sadly, the urine smell was from our brother who had now become so feeble, that he could only lie in bed with urine soaking his clothes and his sheet-less bed all day.

As we entered his room, he attempted to stand up, nearly losing his pants. It immediately became apparent to all that he was also suffering from severe weight loss, a result of deprivation and malnutrition.

What was not apparent was that this now very ill man, had also been deprived from his medicines, particularly his insulin. His mental state was grim as well, as he was unable to recognize any of the men in the class. Amazingly however, he did remember me–his teacher.

Never had the word “teacher” carried so much weight! A teacher is supposed to be someone that does more than stand in front of the classroom.  The teacher must be tuned into the lives of those under their voice. They must be aware of the season that we are in.

In fact, this student’s life had become the teacher–his real life lesson on “urgency” had become a better teacher than I ever could. To a man, we pledged to never be the same and be more in tune to the time.

 

The Connection

Let’s make the connection, the men in the scripture text moved as one, and did all that they could to get their friend into the Lord’s presence. They even ripped open the ceiling to move with urgency to get their friend into the presence of the Lord! Praise God! That’s the level of Spiritual Faithfulness we all need in our relationships!

As you read and reflect on today’s study–identify those things in your life where you have also been slowful. Don’t allow yourself to be out of step with God. Be ready, pray–because God will open doors for you to minister; and when the time comes to move–don’t hesitate– just move, it’s time!

This is an excerpt from The BounceBack Devotional and Journal for Men: “God’s Plan for Man”— Month 1, Day 29] (Heath 2008)

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