Thursday, June 16,
2016
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling
yourselves.
James 1:22(NLT)
Can you imagine telling
God to calm down?
But that’s exactly what it is
when we read a Scripture, hear it resonate in our hearts, feel the fear of
being too religious or zealous, and then choose a better way.
If you recall, Scripture tells us
(Acts 20) that while Paul was preaching to a group late at night, a
young man named Eutychus was sitting in a window seat on the third floor. He became drowsy during the sermon and fell
three stories to his death. That,
certainly, is one kind of peril of ignoring God’s Word! Fortunate for that young man, Paul prayed and
God revived him.
I’ve had my own Eutychus moments
over the years. Our church had theatre
seating; the individual seats had soft bottoms and solid oak back-rests. One middle-aged man had a habit of getting a
little too comfortable once the up-and-down of the service stopped. Once the choir had finished singing and
dispersed into the congregation, he was already in dreamland. Usually by the time I’d read the Scripture
for the sermon he and I were in strong competition for who would preach the
louder sermon that day. Our congregation
got so used to him that we just about tuned-out his rumblings completely.
One time after service he was
still sleeping when the custodian shut down the building; he awoke suddenly
(probably disturbed by his own snoring) and got frightened by the quiet. The doors to the sanctuary had dead-bolt locks,
and could only be unlocked with a key.
In his panic, the man actually broke a window pane in one of the doors
trying to get out. Someone heard the
shattered glass, and the need for a raising from the dead prayer,
like Eutychus, was averted!
If you read the letters to the
churches in Revelation (Chapters 2-3) you will find that the Jesus
handed out strong warnings to 6 of the 7 churches; most of their problem was
being asleep while evil was claiming their strength of holy living.
Some of those churches are still
asleep in the window.
For You Today
Whether your preacher is the next Billy Graham, or as
dry as the Arabian Desert, the Word of God is going to show up in some aspect
of your worship this week. It would be a
good thing to listen closely for God’s heart – as James urged all of us – not
just listening, but doing what you hear.
Don’t fool yourself; don’t be a Eutychus!
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: By Internet Archive Book Images [No
restrictions], via Wikimedia Commons
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