Spiritual Stamina is a learn-able skill
Most parents will tell you that it’s not easy managing sleep deprivation the first time around. Parents who have children far apart in age will testify to how hard it is to get back into the sleep deprived state of dealing with a newborn.
Parents with many young children, like this writer, will tell you that a certain skill is gained that allows you to function with several months of less than ideal sleep.
What’s the secret? Catching naps at key times and saying no to a lot of other things that take up time.
We know that there is a season of less than ideal sleep and that season is not permanent. The baby will eventually learn to sleep through the night and sleep will start to return closer and closer to normal.
It may not return back to the days of not having children for many many years, but in time, one will get to sleep most of the nights.
In the case of this impromptu visit from the Apostle Paul, the receiving church didn’t have time to brush up on their sleep before the long series of teachings.
However, there were several people in the assembly who had no issues staying awake. The ability to vigil through a night is a learn-able skill. There is a way to pace your energy, shift your focus, and lean into the teachings so you’re able to stay alert.
Just ask those who have to drive through the night, or work a double shift, or work the night shift. Initially, it’s difficult, but with time, one learns how to handle the situation.
We have to develop and grow our spiritual abilities just like we do our physical abilities. Maturity dictates that we continue to develop ourselves and strengthen ourselves to handle the ever increasing complexities of life.
The Distraction Economy
A meme that shows up often in some self-help circles states that there was a time when humans had the attention span that allowed them to sit in on a lecture for an hour.
Today, it’s often quipped that people can’t hold their attention as long as a goldfish. For those who don’t know how long that is… that’s eight seconds for the goldfish.
Long blog posts have fewer people reading through them compared to short GIF memes. Entertainment producers know to shift the scene rapidly to hold the attention of a viewer. Movie makers lament the days of a steady cam shot that ran minutes long… (a little artistic liberty taken)… because today’s audience get bored by a scene mere seconds after it’s shown.
Are we being trained to have short attention spans or is industry responding to the loss of attention?
Whatever the case, most humans perform their best work when they have time to perform deep work. The kind of work that requires focus, attention, effort, and no interruptions.
The distraction economy is designed to hold our attention by showing us many rapidly changing scenes that makes us feel great in the moment. Just think of the scrolling we do on social media for quick mini-hits of feel-good. CEOs of the home understand this and work to set themselves up to win despite the system’s best efforts.
There are quiet times when the phones are put away. There are moments where the family is only connected with each other. There is a time and place for entertainment being provided for the family and there is a time and place when/where the family creates it’s own entertainment.
To skip on creating those “sacred” moments, is to put one’s family at risk of missing out the blessing of bonding together as a family. CEOs of the home are very protective of their bonding times and learning times.
God is in the restoration business
Love it when preachers tout that one can live as they wish, carry on without worry, and then, turn to God to have everything restored back to new. (sarcasm)
We live in the real world. The full restoration process requires work. There are instances of miracles, for sure. There are other instances where the miracle is dependent on us doing our part too.
Yes, God does restore. It’s part of His divine nature.
What most people will gloss over… is the why behind the restorative miracles. God loves his own glory. He does things that will glorify His name. It’s His right.
When Eutychus was revived, everyone gloried God and were left with a serious impression about the power behind the name of Jesus Christ.
The work of the gospel got a serious boost that day.
Doesn’t matter how far you’ve fallen spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. There is a way to restoration. That’s the most powerful element of the story. It wasn’t partial, it wasn’t incomplete, but total restoration.
The illustration used in the sermon, the young man could have been restored back to ground level and kept there. He could have been sent home after his miraculous recovery. However, he was brought back up with the other saints, broke bread with them, and stayed through the night with them… in the upper room on the third floor.
When a member of the family has any difficulties that has them falling out, we have to work together as a family to welcome them back to the fold. Work together to restore them.
It’s a process. It’s a journey. It often takes a degree of time. We can’t forget a fallen member just for the sake of our personal convenience. No parent leaves their child behind just because they got in trouble with the law (or got sick, or any other situation).
Please, do not forget the power of prayer in the process of recovery. Just because this blog isn’t shouting it does not mean it’s not relevant or very important.
Ah… yes… there is more… like… the tips and encouragements 🙂
