Pause for Others
Acts 3 finds Peter and John headed to the temple. The picture is one of a crowd headed into a church service. A lame man, crippled from birth, has been placed at the entrance, asking for money. In the midst of the crowd, Peter stops, “fixing his eyes on him.” Peter paused, made direct eye contact with the lame man. The man “gave them his attention.”
Peter pauses and God works. Rather than money, the man is healed.
And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. Acts 3:8
A mentee of Adrian Rogers said that the thing that he marveled at most in Dr. Roger’s life was how long it took him to get from one side of a crowded room to the other. He always paused when people walked up to greet him, looked them in the eyes, and truly connected. Dr. Rogers cared for people, never too busy to pause.
If you are anything like me, it is tough to pause in the midst of a busy life. Work, running kids to practices, errands for the family, house up-keep, and thousands of other things on a busy schedule, keep me humming. If I pause, I lose efficiency and my perception is that the day is lost. I see things that break my heart, but I don’t pause. In a moment, I can think of many connections that I did not make with people, situations where I did not offer help or an ear or guidance, because of my busy schedule.
The truth is that we all need to pause for others. And, we all need others to pause for us. My wife, my kids, my family, my friends, all need me to pause in my busy life. And, I need the same from them.
God works in the midst of the pause.
Back to Acts 3. After the lame man is healed, Peter tells all that God performed the healing miracle, and he shares the story of Jesus with many.
But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. Acts 4:4
Did you catch that? God worked through Peter’s pause to start a revival where 5,000 people believed in Jesus. This pause of Peter is a story of one man caring for another individual. This pause for one man invited God into the scene, changing the lives of thousands.
Who knows what God has in store when we pause. We pause, He works.
Impact others. Live generously.
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