Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Joy of Missing Out | New Testament | Acts 24

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

When you follow Jesus, you might have to miss out on things. But, when you follow Jesus, you also get to miss out on other things. In today's episode, Tanya looks at Acts 24 to share the joy in making the decision to love Jesus whole-heartedly. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Acts 24

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Have you been putting off the most important decision of your life? At the age of 29, Charles Darwin apparently decided he was no longer going to put off a major life decision, so he folded a piece of paper in half hot dog style and made a list of pros and cons to decide whether or not he should propose to his cousin Emma Wedgworth. The author of the origin of species had a list on,

one side that reflected his inner debate with making a mark in society and being someone in the world, and the other side, which was a desire to have a family and companionship. Now, Benjamin Franklin was known for a more sophisticated approach to his decision. Apparently, he assigned numerical values, everything on the right and left side of his list, so that he could make a mathematical equation out of the whole thing. We've created strategies for making decisions because they stress us out. There are names for this like decision fatigue and decision deletion. delay. What we forget to remember, though, is that we almost always feel better when the decision is

made. Why? Well, at the point the decision is made, we only have to deal with the reality of missing out instead of the fear of missing out. And reality is easier to handle than fear. Let's think about your life for a moment. What decision are you delaying because you don't want to miss out? Is it which car to buy, whether or not to propose, when to have children, if you should change jobs? The decision delay is a fantastical world. The more you prolong a decision, the longer you can live in fantasy of what could be. For instance, my friend is buying a car today, and the moment she signs the papers, she's committed to that particular type, model, and color of car.

Instead of any other ones, she might see out on the road that someone else has. But she's also free from thinking about and trying to find the perfect car. Henry Bergson was a French philosopher, and he wrote about this in his thesis when he penned, We invariably prefer indecision over committing ourselves to a single path. Why? Well, because the future is pregnant with infinite possibilities. And we fear the limits that decision making imposes on us. We have questions like, what can I be?

How beautiful and awesome can my future spouse be? How much money can I accumulate before settling down? How smart? How athletic might my children be? All these things are answered with reality when they actually happen. and we can no longer imagine infinite possibilities. But another European writer, Oliver Berkman, recently wrote about the joy of missing out.

He says the joy of missing out is worth making the decision. When we make decisions, you get to miss out on lesser things because we've already committed to what matters most. Now, here's the point we're going to make today with a man named Felix in Acts chapter 24. When you follow Jesus, you get to miss out on a lot of things. like proving your self-worth in your work, finding your identity in other people,

and trying to fix your son problem on your own. I'm going to tell you the story of Felix, but the spoiler is that he never got around to making the most important decision of his life. He wanted to leave his options open, we might say. He wanted to be everyone's friend, not pick sides, not miss out on anything. Now, Felix was a lot of things.

He was the governor of Rome. He was a former slave. He'd been freed by Claudius. He had a corrupt administration. and he was hated by the Jews. He stole his wife, whether than wooing her from another king. He was driven by insecurity, and he had trouble making decisions. When Paul was on trial in Jerusalem, they brought him before Felix, and a wordy man named Tertullus got up and said all kinds of flattering, falsely encouraging things to Felix before presenting Paul's case. Tertulus brought three

charges against Paul to Felix. He said Paul was a troublemaker of the worst kind, a plague on society. He called Paul a ringleader of the Nazarene sect. Well, partly true, but the words themselves can note a dangerous cult. And he said Paul was trying to desecrate the temple. Now Felix heard all of this, and he heard Paul's defense, and he knew Paul was innocent of the charges. Luke makes that pretty obvious in the way he wrote about it in Acts 24. It says, but Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the way, put them off, saying, when Lysius the Tribune comes down, I will decide your case. Now, even though Felix had the position and the power and the knowledge, he sat on the decision rather than letting Paul go free. Now, an even bigger miss in Felix's life was how he sat on a

decision about who Jesus Christ was. Luke goes on and says, after some days, Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul, and he heard him speak about faith in Jesus Christ. And he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, and Felix was alarmed and said, go away for the present. When I get an opportunity, I will summon you. Well, apparently, that opportunity never came around again. Felix was familiar with the way, which meant he knew what Paul was preaching about how true life could only be found in Jesus. Felix was married to a Jewish woman, which meant he'd been exposed to both the ancient scriptures and Paul's teaching about how Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of Judaism. Felix also trembled when he heard what Paul said about

righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, which means he must have been convicted. Finally, Felix had curiosity. He wanted to hear more, and Paul was there to deliver. But he sent him away and never summoned him again. Felix had been given a lot. The greatest tragedy was that Felix never acted on it. Not only did he not save Paul, but he didn't put his own life in the saving hands of Jesus. Felix was too afraid of disappointing someone or missing out on something and never got around to the most important thing. What about you?

Do you have a fear of missing out if you go all in on Jesus? What if you become one of those people who puts Jesus first and follow what his word says? Will you miss out on intellectual freedom? Will you miss out on a relationship that you found yourself in? Will you miss a habit you don't want to give up? Will you miss a neutral zone you inhabit that keeps people from questioning you or disliking you? I think Felix thought he had more time to make a decision. By putting it off, he could enjoy the moment and keep his options open for the future.

The problem was that Felix ran out of time. He was recalled by Nero. He lost his wife. he lost his position and his access to Paul. Harry Ironside was a biblical scholar, and he wrote about an encounter he had when Dwight Moody was preaching at a theater in Chicago when he was just a teenager.

Ironside was kind of hanging from the rafters, and he was there when Moody said, would everyone who knows Jesus as their Lord and Savior stand up? About three-fourths of the 10,000-person crowd stood up. Then Moody said, Would everyone who gave their life to Jesus before the age of 15, 60s? down. Of the 7,000 or so people standing, half sat down. Moody continued and said,

with those who gave their life to Jesus before the age of 20 sit down, another half took their seats. He continued on by tens, going from 30 to 40 and then 50. By that time, Ironside observes when he said, when anyone who's committed their life to Jesus after the age of 50 stay standing, only 10 people remained. The point Moody, and then, Ironside wanted to make was about time. There's no better time to make a decision about who Jesus is than right now. If the Lord has shown himself to you, what are you waiting for? You can ask God to give you the security in his love that you need to make a decision that will have you missing out on anything less than him. In Psalm 86, David prays, turn to me and have mercy on me, Lord, show your strength on behalf of your

servant. If you're tired of living in a world of in those pursuits of happiness and security that are never what they seem, you can pray those words also. Turn to me, Lord, and have mercy on me, a sinner. Show your strength on behalf of your servant. I trust you, Lord, with my sin and my life and my future. You are enough. Amen.