This year, I am involved in a Discipleship Group (a D-Group) that reads five biblical texts a week, writes journals entries on each of them, and presents one of those entries to the other members each week. Each journal entry is based on the acrostic H.E.A.R. The H stands for Highlight (we highlight a key verse, writing it out by hand. The E stands for Explain (we explain the verse or the larger passage). A is for Apply (we look to see how the truths we have uncovered apply to our own lives). And the R is for Respond (we write out our response, which could be a prayer or a statement of what we intend to do. Today, I was reading Acts 8 and 9. My highlight verse follows and then the Explain, Apply, and Respond.

Acts 9:31 “Therefore” (this refers to the previous verse, where the lightning rod Saul was sent off by the church to Tarsus), the whole church in Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being built up and going around in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.” (My translation.)

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Once Saul was gone, the church had peace. What follows are two sets of contrasting realities, though “contrasting” is not the right word. They are more like two poles of experience around which the disciple’s life flows. The disciples are being built up (passive voice), which implies structure, steadfastness (as in immovable? see 1 Cor. 15:58), and strength. But they also “go around” (proceed, travel, move through life). Both are true of the spiritually healthy disciple: stop and go; rest and action; “let (-ting) nothing move” them yet always going.

The other set of contrasts come next. The believer experiences both “the fear of the Lord” and “the comfort of the Holy Spirit.” The fear of the Lord moves us (see 2 Cor. 5:11), while the comfort of the Spirit rests us. The fear of the Lord energizes us. The comfort of the Spirit contents us. The fear of the Lord causes a desire for more. The comfort of the Spirit makes us rejoice in what we already have.

People tend to gravitate to one pole or the other, perhaps based on personality, yet we all sense the need for both. We were created with both poles – in that sense, we are all “bi-polar” – and we are only fully ourselves when we have a “current” within us that constantly moves between both.

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I prefer the comfort of the Spirit. I seek safety and rest. But I recognize the desire for more, the longing for the energizing “fear of the Lord” that makes things happen. I must not be content with one or the other; I must choose both. I desire the divine rhythm that moves me in rest and rests me in movement. I desire the magnetic attraction that is generated from the flow of life between both poles. That energy makes the Lord Jesus visible in my life and brings him glory.

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Lord, give me both. I want to be built up and to go about, to rest in the comfort of the Holy Spirit and to move in the fear of the Lord. But I am rhythmically challenged, so I need you to teach me, help me, and be yourself in me.

Please make this a reality in our church as well.