'Moving On'
by Pastor James Scarborough, Donalsonville Assembly of God

Our society is amazingly mobile. Journeys that used to take days can now be completed in hours. We are no longer content to spend our entire lives within a ten mile radius of where we were born. Modern people like to stay on the move.

Staying on the move should be part of our spiritual lives, too. Not running to and fro chasing the latest religious fad, but moving ahead in spiritual maturity, moving up to a deeper commitment to God, moving on to the next level of Christian service. God does not expect us to be frozen in a deep rut of religiosity--He wants us to be alive, well and active in our service for Him.

Sometimes He calls us to move physically to another location of Christian service; more often it is a spiritual move within our current location. But in either case, it is not always easy nor comfortable for us to step up in our spiritual growth. Most of us grow really comfortable with our current circumstances and would rather stay right where we are. We like the looks of that which is familiar to us. The problem is that this can place us is that this can place us

in a nice comfortable rut. Someone told me that a rut is nothing more than a grave with both ends knocked out. We need to be careful that we do not bury our spiritual progress in a well feathered rut that we are refusing to climb out of. Instead we need to move on in our spiritual growth and service.

Paul was willing to move on as the Lord directed him. While in Ephesus, he experienced great success in his ministry. Acts 19 records that Ephesian disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit when he laid his hands upon them; for two years he had daily discussion of the Scriptures at the lecture hall of Tyrannus. Great miracles took place, and the hearts of those practicing sorcery were so touched and changed that they brought their scrolls on the subject and publicly burned them. To say that revival was occurring is to state it mildly. Verse 20 says that "In this way the Word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power" (NIV). Then the next verse says, "After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem."

Paul was not the case of one who just grew bored one who just grew bored and took it upon himself and took it upon himself to pick up and go. It is a to pick up and go. It is a beautiful example of one who was willing to move on as God directed him no matter what would come to him physically. He could say with absolute sincerity, "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the Gospel of God's grace" (Acts 20:24).

He moved on as the Lord directed him. He could do so because he heard from God; he valued God's leadership more than the voice of men. As a result, he was willing to follow God's directions no matter what people or circumstances were saying. God honors such faithfulness, willingness and trust. May we all desire to move ahead in our walk with Him.