Wouldn’t It Be Nice – Acts and Life in the Spirit

I have no idea at present what the Beach Boys song was called. I also have no intention presently to simply google it. (Blogging by phone does that to me.)

I do know that the song had the words “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”.

At this juncture it’s important for me to note my mild hatred for the word ‘nice’. Not far from vulgar words, it is a lazy way of praising something or highlighting its points of merit. Rather than words like delightful, splendid, beautiful, enriching, marvellous, pleasant or even good, we resort to a fairly plain and frankly uninspiring dullard of a word – nice. Yuk!

In fact it’s almost an insult to call something ‘nice’, like a cheap kop out from actually saying you are not at all that enamoured or interested in what requires the comment.

Be that as it may, The Beach Boys did make the word palatable in the song and it played it’s part in a decent little tune painting a picture of idyll for them.

I was thinking of that song when considering the book of Acts. Weird, right? A book full of persecution, spectacular deaths, political conspiracy, religious massacre, imprisonment, beatings, shipwreck and dissensions is not quite the trigger for the California Sun the Beach Boys were merrily singing about. Hear me out, though.

Acts is an exciting action narrative full of the thrills and spills of life in the Spirit. It challenges every subsequent generation of believers to consider what life would be like individually and corporately were we to live it full of the Holy Spirit. Almost as if to say wouldn’t it be nice to apply in this day that same Spirit-filled existence that saw caring and compassionate communities created and cultivated. Created by declaration and demonstration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Cultivated by prayer, fellowship, service and mission for the sake of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Except, of course, it wouldn’t just be nice. It would be awesome. It would be brilliant. It would simply be the best thing that ever happened to us. The truth is that is the life every follower of Christ is invited to experience.

Not the exact same flavour – not all of us will get the beatings, not all of us will get thrown in jail, not all of us will raise people from the dead and not all of us will get to give the religious rulers of our day the verbal dressing down of a lifetime before getting beaten to death by stoning. (Acts 7 is an epic chapter to me. Epic! Not nice!!)

No we won’t all have the same flavour, but the taste should be similar. The sense of excitement, joy, delight and fervour in the midst of challenging and at times oppressive circumstances should be similar. Not all a bed of roses, not everything going swimmingly, but an almost physically tangible sense of God’s presence guiding our acts and enlightening our dark understanding. Sharing life, sharing the mission, recognising and supporting each other in our walk with Christ. All powered by the Holy Spirit. All displaying the brilliance of Jesus Christ. All for the glory of God our Father.

I don’t write this because it’s not happening or because it cannot happen. I write it to remind myself (and you) of the real indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Not just in me alone, but in the community of believers. Every time we meet, we do so with the potentiality if great things happening in line with God’s will. Not just openly spectacular, but the changing of hearts and minds towards God through His Son. Great things in every area of our lives – repairing broken relationships, healing broken hearts, renewing hope and zeal in previously complacent and apathetic lives.

Every time we meet, every time we engage with others, God’s life can break out in amazing ways giving us more stories of the incredible acts of the Holy Spirit. We get to live like that. I’m not always sure we are conscious of that, but can you imagine what life would be like if we were always conscious of that?

Wouldn’t it be nice?

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden