Have you ever noticed how active and prescriptive God is?

“Fear not, neither be thou dismayed…arise, go…” (Joshua 8:1)

“Be not afraid…” (Jeremiah 10:5)

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44)

God speaks in verbs and actions. He commands. He describes. He explains. Though He may be sitting on His throne, He certainly isn’t twiddling His thumbs. He’s doing. He’s watching. He’s working. He’s opening doors. He’s fulfilling His promises.

As I write this blog post, our son, Graham, is 13 months old. The articles and experts tell us that most babies walk around their first birthday. While Graham has been cruising around the furniture, climbing the stairs and grabbing onto everything in sight, his interest in walking on his own isn’t quite there yet.

As parents, we know that walking doesn’t happen overnight. It takes lots of patience, lots of practice and lots of falls along the way. But, barring any medical condition that prevents a child from walking, all children eventually transition from crawling on all fours to standing upright on their own. They learn a new action, like walking, and implement it in their daily lives.

When we choose to follow Christ, we accept His gospel — and we accept the action requests He makes of us: attend church regularly; fellowship with the Saints; help those in need; read the scriptures; tell others of what you’ve found (among others).

Some of these actions we may already be doing prior to our baptism, but some we may only begin once we’ve made our commitment at the water’s edge. God doesn’t expect these actions to happen overnight. Like crawling, some of them take time. We all can’t know every scripture verbatim immediately, and it would be challenging to visit every branch or mission instantly. The point is, of course, that we are choosing to do something.

The opposite of taking action? Being idle. Idleness implies that there is nothing to be done that is worthy of time or effort. I think it’s safe to say we all agree there is plenty to be done for the Lord and for our church. As long as there are people who don’t know God, there is always something we can do.

1 Corinthians 15:58 sums it up nicely: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

Choose a verb and act upon it. Arise. Go. Love. Attend. Help. Read. Pray. Tell. Do.

It won’t be overlooked; but instead, blessed.

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.