I just got back from the first evening session of the North American Christian Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. This year’s theme is “It’s Time.”
The main speaker was Alan Ahlgrim of Rocky Mountain Christian Church near Boulder, Colorado. His talk was entitled “It’s Time to Listen Up!” In a nutshell, he discussed the importance of listening for the prompting of God. The two main points were:
- Listen Up: God’s work on earth isn’t finished yet.
- Listen Up: God’s work in us and through us isn’t finished yet.
Perhaps the biggest “aha” moment for me was in the story he told of John Cavanaugh, a man who visited Mother Teresa in India. He asked her to pray for clarity in his life, and she refused, asking why he would ask such a thing from her. “Because you seem to have clarity in your life,” he reportedly responded. Mother Teresa said, “I ?ve never had clarity in my whole life. What I do have is trust, and what I will pray for for you is that you will have trust, too.”
Once again, I ?ve come back to the understanding that even though we may not hear God ?s audible voice commanding us to go here or there and do this or that, we can trust that we are in his will when we follow the vision of our leaders in the church. While we certainly need to seek God ?s will through praying, listening for his voice, studying the Bible, and seeking the counsel of other mature Christians, we shouldn ?t hobble ourselves or the work of our churches and individual Christians by waiting for the ?writing on the wall. ?
The servants awaiting their master ?s return already have their job descriptions and the authority to carry out their duties; they would be fools to sit back and wait for the master to sign off on their daily planners and task lists before they start working. Since it is true that God ?s work isn ?t finished yet, then we need to be waiting on God ?s direction, yes, but in faithful action, trusting what we already know about God and his previously expressed will.