Surprised by an Old Lady

I’m one of those guys who draws conclusions about things way too quickly. In fact, it gets me in trouble so often that I’m really trying to wait and gather all the facts or listen to the full sentence before I assume I know where things are headed. Usually, when my wife begins to say something, I immediately assume halfway in that I know where she’s going, so I check out mentally. Then when my assumption is wrong, it’s bad news for me. Having two little girls in my house now means I have a lot more listening and a lot less jumping the gun to do. I’m going to need some prayer …

As I was reading Acts 1:4-8 this week, I saw myself in the disciples. When Jesus was speaking to them about the arrival of the Holy Spirit, they started jumping to conclusions as to what Jesus’ words would mean. They began drawing upon past conversations and trying to put the puzzle together without yet having all the pieces. I am positive that what they came up with was infinitely less than what actually happened when the Holy Spirit came. There’s no way they could have known how much their lives were going to change once the Holy Spirit arrived on the scene. I can’t imagine what it was like being in Jerusalem and hearing the thunderous arrival or seeing the results of His presence. It must have shocked the disciples beyond measure.

In our own way, we form judgments and ideas based on the past experiences in our lives, and often, things follow along the way we assume they will. But sometimes, we are shocked beyond measure, and that’s a good thing. It reminds us that things aren’t always what they seem. For a great example of this, watch this clip of Susan Boyle. Taking one look at her, I knew without a doubt the performance would be disastrous. But as I watched in awe, I was reminded once again not to judge too quickly.

You see, when we hand our lives over to Christ and the Holy Spirit resides in us, things don’t always happen the way we think they will because our old way of thinking contradicts this divine power. We should work with this amazing power rather than run from it, or worse, assume we have it all figured out. Thinking we know what God can or can’t do shows that we doubt His power. The moment we think meeting a person on the street can’t be a divine appointment, we miss out. The moment we think a person is a lost cause or we don’t think He can heal their hurt, we miss out. I don’t know how long you’ve known Christ or if you’re following Him at all, but I do know we can’t place limits on what the Holy Spirit can do in and through our lives. I’ve received many e-mails and blog posts recently from people who feel hopeless in their walk with Christ. Here’s the thing: being a model Christian doesn’t mean fulfilling a checklist, but rather walking daily in the power God gives; following Him no matter what the surroundings look like and no matter how many times you fail. The power of the Holy Spirit is more than we can grasp, and it’s even confusing sometimes, but we can’t limit our obedience to Him because of our small assumptions. Though you may look at your life and see a Susan Boyle, God sees something completely different. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want miss out on something great simply because my assumptions were all wrong. I want to leave that up to God and be shocked at the limitlessness of His power.