SCRIPTURE
24Suddenly, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!” 25But Paul replied, “I am not insane, Most Excellent Festus. What I am saying is the sober truth. 26And King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak boldly, for I am sure these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner! 27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do—” 28Agrippa interrupted him. “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?” “A little more, and your arguments would make me a Christian.” 29Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.” Acts 26:24-29
OBSERVATION
Paul was simply doing what Jesus does. He wasn’t offering a quick fix. He wasn’t after an “easy sell”. He wasn’t trying to get another point on the salvation scoreboard. No, Paul saw every soul, from the lowliest in the crowd to the loftiest king, as a soul worth waiting for. He had been waiting for this moment to speak to King Agrippa and had been praying into this moment for years. He knew an opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with someone of such influence and power didn’t come along very often. He wasn’t about to waste his breath talking about the weather or wheat futures. No, the King wanted to hear about this resurrected man Paul kept talking about so that’s what Paul was going to talk about. He was building a relationship not closing a case. He was sincere, so convinced that Jesus was alive and well, that the King had to take a breather. There’s nothing so convicting as a man convinced. Paul was fine with a delay in the conversation because again, this was a soul worth waiting for. It was slowness with a purpose. This is how Peter describes God’s heart when it comes to waiting on those who don’t yet know Him, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) Jesus is delaying His return for His Church until everyone has a chance to hear the Gospel and make a choice.
APPLICATION
In our day and age of instant everything do we love people enough to walk our entire lives beside them until they meet Christ? The question is, how long am I willing to wait for a soul? Maybe, the question behind that is whether my soul is even willing to wait for anything anymore? David wrote, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word, I hope.” (Psalm 130:5) He waited 14 years between the anointing as king to the ascendency asking. That’s a long time to wait for a promotion. I don’t even like to wait 14 minutes for my food to cook in the microwave. In fact, waiting for anything is more of a lost art form. We are so easily distracted! According to recent studies An average office worker will check their email inbox 30 times every hour (yup…every two minutes) and will pick up their phones more than 1,500 times per week amounting to 3 hours and 16 minutes a day. What about when we’re browsing online? Similar story. On the average web page, users will read an average of only 20% of the content during a visit. The average page visit lasts less than a minute and users often leave web pages in just 10-20 seconds. In fact, there’s a good chance, that if anyone started reading this journal entry they've already moved on to another page. Which means they are totally going to miss out on how we can’t even wait as long as goldfish. According to research, our attention span has rapidly decreased in just 15 years. In 2000, it was 12 seconds. Now, 15 years later, it’s shrunk significantly to 8.25 seconds. Scientists reckon we now have shorter attention spans than goldfish, who can focus on a task or object for 9 seconds. Let that sink in. A goldfish, with its big ‘ol eyes and air bubbles floating slowly to the top of its fishbowl can wait longer than I can. So, I guess that answers my previous question. My soul doesn’t want to wait for anything, let alone for someone to come around to accepting Christ. Yet, Jesus was willing to wait for me. Yet, if I look around at anyone I know, I would say wholeheartedly that they are all worth waiting for. I don’t want anyone to go into a Christ-less eternity simply because they didn’t come to Christ quickly enough for my liking. It’s not just slowness, but slowness with a purpose, patience with a point, valuing people over my so-called “valuable time”. When it comes down to it, is there any better investment of the time I’ve been given, then walking alongside someone as they draw closer to Christ?
PRAYER
Lord, forgive me for my selfishness, impatience, and pride. Paul was willing to be inconvenienced to the point of imprisonment and death just for the chance to share Jesus with someone and yet I have the gull to write someone off simply because they refused to come to church with me when I invited them. People can tell when I’m just trying to get them to sign the dotted line instead of truly caring enough to get to know them. You saw me as a soul worth waiting for me. Give me that same perspective with everyone I meet, no matter how long it takes.
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