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“Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place, and he came down to visit the believers in the town of Lydda. There he met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly. Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they turned to the Lord.” – Acts 9:32-35.
You hear the word momentum used in sports all the time. Teams talk about “getting on a roll.” Announcers routinely talk about the importance of momentum. How much effect does momentum have on our spiritual life?
The Bible uses the words, “going from victory to victory, from strength to strength, from glory to glory, from faith to faith.” This is momentum. The apostle Paul wrote about it in Philippians 3: “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me” (Philippians 3:12).
Sometimes we get stuck. We feel like our spiritual lives are stagnate, stalled, and stale. We often unknowingly and sometimes intentionally apply our spiritual brakes to admire the scenery, take a detour, and catch our breath until it becomes routine. We stop any momentum. We stop progressing. We find ourselves in a routine, hoping the same old spiritual practices will produce new results.
In Acts 9, we read about Peter. This is the Peter who preached at Pentecost, and 3,000 people were saved. This is the Peter who said to the lame man, Acts 3:6: “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” and the lame man rose and entered the temple, “walking and leaping and praising God” (Acts 3:8). This is the Peter who was rebuked for preaching in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18), but continued on preaching, so much so that he filled Jerusalem with the preaching of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead (Acts 5:28).
Peter is a man who is always on the move, encountering all sorts of interesting people in unique situations. During his life, Peter created a lot of spiritual momentum. And you know what a man with spiritual momentum does? He creates spiritual momentum for others. This is precisely what happens in Acts 9. Peter is on the move, so Aeneas becomes a man on the move — both physically and spiritually, which has a snowball effect on others.
Sometimes, something you want to do or see happening stands in front of you like an enormous wall – an enormous task – a barrier that seems too high to get over. To overcome obstacles in the economy, workplace, society, business, employment, and loneliness, we need to gain momentum to scale over obstacles, hurdles, or walls.
Spiritual momentum means our hearts and minds desire to be more like Jesus Christ. Imitating His love, showing His compassion, exhibiting grace and mercy to others. It is a natural progression. We first believe in Christ and realize that we belong to Christ. Only then can Christ use us as we become increasingly Christ-like.
Discussion Questions:
- What one small thing will you do to create some spiritual momentum today?