Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!" And grabbing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.
Verse 8 of Acts chapter 3 tells us that with a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
Leaping and praising God! Well I suppose we might all be inclined to be enthusiastic upon being able to walk when we never had before, right?
But listen to this: Jesus said, in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
He has just delivered a speech to His disciples about His being the vine and God being the vinedresser. He has just explained that we are branches on His vine and that we are to bear fruit, keep His commandments, and abide in love. Then He says, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."
It’s one thing to say we would all leap and praise God for being able to suddenly walk, but as for being joyful and made full of joy for working for the Lord, is that different? When was the last time we felt like leaping for joy because of something we accomplished for God?
The Lord, in Malachi 4:2, says, “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall
The psalmist wrote, I cried with all my heart; answer me, O LORD! I will observe Your statutes. (Psalm 119:145) A paraphrase of this verse puts it this way: I call out at the top of my lungs.
Psalm 5:11 says, let all who take refuge in You be glad. Let them ever sing for joy; and may You shelter them, that those who love Your name may exult in You. For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield.
And Isaiah puts it this way in chapter 55, verse 12: For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Now what kind of person can actually inspire the mountains and hills to shout with joy? What kind of person can motivate the trees to applause? Is it a person who hohums about his day, hanging his head? Of course not. It is a person who is thankful, thoughtful, and genuinely excited to be alive.
Look, Ivern Bell said, Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch.
We drag ourselves down with negative thoughts about politics, education, career path, health. We even apply negativity toward the church: we aren’t doing enough to involve the youth; we aren’t getting people to attend on Wednesday nights. Why does he start all his prayers in the same way? Why can’t he preach a shorter lesson? Why does he drag the songs?
Part of the problem is that we know what we’re doing in the church; we just may not be enthusiastic about it.
Look up that word: enthusiastic. You’ll find that it’s a 17th century word, from the French or early Latin, through the Greek word enthousiasmos, and it originally meant “possessed by God, or inspired” The word in its purest form means “in God”. How about that! Now don’t I wish I were a little more enthusiastic for the Lord! It’s one thing to be thankful: this year, celebrate enthusiastically!