It feels like we spend so much of our lives waiting. Whether as a child waiting to hear if we made the team, or waiting for our driver’s license, waiting for college, waiting for freedom, waiting to land our first job, waiting to meet that dreamy soulmate, or waiting for our first, second, or third child.
Those are just a few, but the truth is there are thousands of small things that we wait for throughout our lives. The problem with waiting is that too often we feel like life is on pause until the desired outcome blooms to completion.
The Apostle Paul did a little waiting in his lifetime. We read in Romans 15:22-29 that he desired to go and spend time with his friends in Rome. He says that he has longed for many years to be with them.
What are you waiting for?
What options did Paul have in this season of waiting?
- Paul could have inactively sat back and waited for the opportunity to go.
- Paul could have actively waited knowing that God would use today.
We know that Paul chose the latter option. Which do you choose in your life?
We so often think that God is going to use us when all the stars align in perfect circumstance. God will begin working when we move, I change jobs, we get out of debt, we have children, or so many other circumstances. God will indeed work at those times. However, we are missing God’s greatest strategy of mind-blowing activity.
God seizes the opportunities of today to work in amazing ways. Paul engaged the calling of his life in order to leverage the significance of today instead of complacently waiting for tomorrow.
His waiting brought him from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum to fulfill the ministry of the gospel of Christ. That’s from Southern Palestine, through Syria, across Turkey, through Greece, and then to Albania in obedience to God’s call while waiting. His waiting has brought him to say, ‘I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.’ (vs. 25-26)
Paul understood and we must believe today that:
- God will use today’s meanderings just as much as the future moments of desired arrival.
- God is not waiting for something new or different to happen, He is working today.
- The God-given desires of our heart are GOOD! These God-given desires DO NOT change the presence and activity of our God here and now.
What are you waiting for? God desires to work in you and through you in greater ways than you could ever imagine TODAY. God is not waiting for the stars to align amidst your circumstances.
What if, instead of waiting passively and stagnantly for some desired outcome in the future, you began waiting actively in your God-given circumstances of today? I believe, as we saw in Paul’s story, that God will do amazing things.
Are you in a season of waiting? How are you leaning into what God desires to do TODAY?
Matt Powell serves as teaching pastor at Crossings Community Church, a body of believers whose mission is to engage, equip, and empower homes for gospel transformation in Katy, TX.