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In the book of Acts in the New Testament, we find some of the exciting events of the early disciple of Jesus. One of the main things that always impressed me when reading the accounts in Acts was the disciples’ obedience in following God, their immediate obedience in following what they believed God wanted them to do. They seemed to have an urgency in their obedience. You get the similar feeling when you read the Gospel of Mark or Matthew where Jesus immediately heals someone, or goes some place. There seems to be this urgency to do God’s will.
It reminds me of the story of the little boy who asked his father after they had finished saying the Lord’s Prayer one night before going to bed, “What does ‘thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven’ mean, Dad.” The father wisely replied, “It means, ‘right now,’ son. You see, in Heaven, God’s will is done ‘right now,’ and ‘right now’ it’s time for you to get to bed. So off you go!” That cute little story can help remind us not to procrastinate, but to do God’s will right now.
In Acts, we find that when Paul was travelling in western Turkey the Holy Spirit forbade him to preach the Gospel. Finally, Paul travels down to the western coastal city of Troas. It is in Troas where Paul has a vision in the night. We read,
“During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”[1]
Paul had the vision at night, and at once, immediately after the vision, Paul’s company begins to get ready to leave in pursuit of the vision. They follow the vision they believe God has given them, and they are soon winning new Christian converts in the city of Philippi, a major city in district of Macedonia in Greece.
Paul was interested to doing God’s will now. His obedience has always impressed upon me the importance of having that urgency of spirit, the importance of doing God’s will today, at once, and not leaving it for tomorrow. Help us, Lord, to do Your will on earth as it’s done in Heaven, to do Your will without procrastination, to do Your will right now!
Here are some other passages on urgency in our obedience.
Psalm 119:60 "I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments."
1 Samuel 21:8b "Because the king's business required haste."
2 Timothy 4:2 "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;"
Matthew 28:7 "And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead;"
Revelations 1:3 "Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."
John 4:35 "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then comes harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."
We see, also, in the words of Jesus, that those who procrastinated often lost or missed their opportunity for service.
Luke 9:59-62 "And he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man having out his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
You might want to read the following passages also:
Notes
[1] Acts 16:9-10
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