Let's Get Going

Get up, let us be going.    —Mark 14:42

My family has enjoyed the summer months of baseball. My grandson, 11, played on a little league team that traveled around Somerset County playing teams from other small towns. They had a great season and were runner-ups in their league championship tournament.

As a coach, a parent, and now a grandparent, I find it frustrating to watch a little league game (all baseball games for that matter) when a batter watches good pitches cross home plate and gets called out without swinging. Passively watching a third strike is such a big deal that coaches circle the “K” standing for a strikeout to indicate a called or non-swinging third strike.

Some may say, they are just kids and are under a lot of pressure standing inches away from a fast flying baseball. Yes, they are just children, but I watch in frustration the same passive, hesitation in adults as they face daily life. God calls us all to walk in faith, make new starts, or reach out to help in ministry, but we often wait just long enough for the moment to pass or for someone else to act first.

We may have prayed long enough about a certain action we need to take. Some of us are quite certain that God is calling us to act, move, and get going, but we wait. Moving ahead in uncertainty is always scary, but the Lord tells us we can do all things through Him. If you have prayed and received direction from God, then plan your next step, and get going in faith.

Jesus was facing one of the hardest challenges of His life: taking upon Himself the sins of the entire world, suffering on a Roman cross, and dying separated from His heavenly Father. He asked His closest three Disciples, Peter, James, and John, to pray with Him. As you probably know, the disciples fell asleep three times as Jesus agonized in prayer just a short distance away. After the third time, Jesus told them, “Get up, let us be going.” The time for praying was over; the time for action had come.

Many of us who call ourselves Christians fail the Lord on both sides of the pray-act continuum. We either pray, pray in uncertainty as to whether we can do something and God will come through for us. Or, on the other side, we do not pray at all but overconfidently blunder ahead in a fool hearted fashion believing that things just work out. The challenge for the true Christian is knowing when to prayerfully wait and when to get going in faith.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” Although not included in Ecclesiastes 3, I would like to add, “A time to wait, and a time to get going.” When Jesus ascended back to heaven, He told His followers to wait in Jerusalem until they received the power of the promised Holy Spirit. After the Holy Spirit fell upon them, they burst open the doors and got going.

God has given us everything we need. Let us pray, listen for his voice, and then get going. Can’t you just hear Jesus’ voice, “Get up, let us be going.” Jesus promised to be with us until the end of the age. Jesus goes with us; let’s go.