“And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.” 2 Chronicles 31:21
There is a saying in sports that is heard over and over. Coaches say it to players and players say it to players. It has become one of the primary reasons for mistakes in an athletic contest, no matter what the sport. It is the line I have said hundreds of times when coaching football, wrestling, softball, and track. What is this single line that plagues athletes in every sport? “Move your feet!” Whether it is a basketball player that is beaten on a drive, a volleyball player who doesn’t get to a serve, or a football player that is beaten on a block, it is so often the same- the athletes are beaten because they don’t move their feet. The equivalent of not moving our feet in our spiritual lives is not taking action. Not moving the feet is usually a show of fatigue, laziness, or lack of preparation. Those same things can hurt us in our Christian walk as well.
There is an old saying , “if you feel far from God, guess who moved.” If we are saved our head coach has given us all the instructions necessary to make the right moves in this game called life. Sadly, just like many of my athletes in the past, we don’t or choose not to. The result is always the same, our opponent beats us. We are still on the team but we are not competing at the level we are equipped to do. The only way we can benefit from the instruction God gives us is to act…move our feet.
Peter called out to Jesus, 
but still had to step out of the boat onto the surface of the water. Abraham believed God, but illustrated it by striking off into the unknown. Moses came to the Red Sea but raised his arms to God because he believed there was no dead ends with God.
A woman with the issue of blood believed so strongly in the healing power of Christ that she fought through the crowd just to touch his robe and was healed. Each one of these people took action that matched their beliefs. This is faith. Jesus said, ‘Follow me’ when he called His disciples; he was (and is) not saying “You are saved, so you can just sit on your hands from now on in. Just enjoy the ride.” No, He calls us to act on our beliefs. Move your feet.
Moving our feet is important because it shows more than just lip service. Some parents will say something across the room ten times before actually start moving their feet to help or to prevent some action of their child. But walking across the room takes more effort than just talking across the room. That goes for our relationship with God as well. Peter could have sat in the boat and said all day long that he believed in the miraculous power of Jesus, but the one act of stepping out of the boat said more than a thousand words while sitting in it. There is a humorous story of a man who falls off a cliff and grabs a protruding root. 
He suddenly hears a booming voice and he asks who it is. The voice says, “I am God and I will save you.” The man replies that he believes Him, so what should he do? God says, “Let go of the root.” The man hesitates for a moment and asks, “Is there anyone else up there I can talk to?” We probably will not ever be in that situation, but we will be in others when God asks us to trust Him through His Word and our reactions to that will paint a vivid picture of trusting our head coach.
First John 3:18 says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” As I have quoted many a time, “the smallest deed is greater than the grandest intention.“ We are to be active Christians, not passive. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:14-16) Our outward actions SHOULD reflect our inward beliefs. Unfortunately , being on the right team doesn’t insure right actions. Two athletes might have the same head coach, but may act differently in the game. There SHOULD be something that separates us from the rest of the world and “moving our feet” or being active for God SHOULD be part of that separation.
There is a difference between waiting “on the Lord” and waiting “for the Lord.” One means the relying on the continual support of the Lord and the other waits for God to act before we do anything. Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for sowing and a time for reaping, a time for laughing and a time for weeping, but there is also a time for waiting and a time for acting. 
We are in times when people expect a lot to be handed to them without taking action. That can be the same for Christians. We wait for God to do something. So often the Word directs us to action, but we wait for God to yell in our ear before doing something. Unfortunately, the time of God yelling in our ear has passed. He gave us the Word to be His voice. While we sit around waiting for God give us something to do, He has already given us something to do. We just don’t see it.
The old story about the man who prays for years to win the lottery (we will skip the obvious theological conflict here) and finally hears God’s voice telling him he needs to buy a ticket is more than a cute story. It is often us. We want to receive without doing. Don’t confuse this with the famous Bible verse that is not in the Bible, “God helps those who help themselves,” but God does expect us to be obedient. Think of how history would be changed if people in the Bible had not followed through on their faith. Our expectations are high, but too often, our efforts are low. Years ago Elaine and I went to see grandkids Asher and Noah play soccer. It was fun. I spoke to a spectator on the sidelines before the game who was wearing a Christian t-shirt and he shared about his Christian faith and he said how important it was to him. Later, he proceeded to get in an argument with the young referee 
during the game, at halftime, and even after the game he hounded the young ref. I followed him to his car and mentioned the disparity between his t-shirt, our pre-game conversation and his actions during the game.
I mentioned that a better action that would have illustrated his belief would have been to be quiet and protect his witness. After all, he did nothing to help the kids, the crowd, the ref, or God. But not acting out would have necessitated “moving his feet” and making an effort to avoid the obvious contradiction between his faith and his right to downgrade someone else. He seemed to be listening and I hope he was.
In First Peter we are told, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13) We need to be prepared for action, not for sitting on our hands. We need to “move our feet,” and act on our faith. There is a famous story of how General Stonewall Jackson’s army found itself stranded on the wrong side of the river during a crucial point of the war and had to get across. General Jackson told his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, and he also called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks and fence rails he could find and built a bridge. Long before day light General Jackson was told by his wagon master all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. General Jackson asked where the engineers were and what were they doing? The wagon master’s only reply was that they were in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge. That is sometimes what we do, we sit around drawing up plans for God, when others just go out and do the work of God.
We should seek the will of God, but seeking should also result in doing. I heard one of my favorite 
authors being interviewed on the radio one day and I will paraphrase what he said that struck me as true. He said that to be a writer, a person must write. A true writer cannot wait around for inspiration, he must write. A true writer cannot go down to the beach and wait for the right mood to come upon him. A writer must write. Sometimes he may not even feel like it, but a writer must write. He said he tires of all the namby-pamby writers now who spend half their life waiting to be inspired. A writer must write. A writer who only waits is not a writer, he is a waiter. I can see an application in that for us. As Christians we can’t wait around for the spirit to move us when God has already given us instructions to move. Christians must act! Do we have to be inspired to give to the poor, give the gospel, or give our best? The Word has already said that. Christians must act!
God has plans for us, but we need to be an active part of that plan. God is not a puppet master and we the marionettes who need to wait for Him to raise our arms and move our feet. Jesus didn’t knock Peter out of the boat, Peter stepped out on his own. We need to step out of the boat. We need to “move our feet.”
