Last night I was teaching a Bible study from the 27th chapter of Acts in which Paul is shipwrecked. As I read about the chaos on the ship, I was reminded of a favorite little ditty that describes most people: "When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout."
My sense was that Paul acted like Jesus who slept in the back of a storm tossed boat, while professional fishermen feared for their lives. Rather than being in a panic, he was at peace and even had a divine visitation from an angel.
We are living in very stormy times. National and international news can easily produce feelings of panic, danger, worry and doubt. For some, personal issues easily produce blindness to the world, but produce the same feelings.
But born again believers in Christ Jesus have a choice to the feelings of panic. We can choose to "walk according to the Spirit" by focusing on the Lord and His purposes for our day and lives. We can choose to worship Him in the midst of the storms and give thanks for His grace and mercy. We can choose to sing a song of praise to Him or read a psalm of praise instead of listening to our 14th commentary of the days news. We can choose to minister to the needs of others rather than seek ministry for our. Doing any or all of these or other means of walking according to the Spirit produces the fruit of peace because we are recognizing that God is in control and we can trust our lives and circumstances to Him.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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1 comment:
It's so interesting that you would write this... My dad (Tim Atchley) preached from this very scripture Sunday before last. I truly believe that God is calling us as His children to be solid trusting in Him through everything.
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