Action vs. Impulse

The Christmas season has been reminding me how much we are influenced by impulse. There's the magazines and little candies by the registers, the free gifts that come with spending $50 on some random item, the pizza places, the DVD sales, the Starbucks amazing mochas with real whip and yummy red candied bits on top...
you can really put yourself in a financial hole with all these 'great deals'.

I woke up this morning with the words, "I want my people to be a people of Action"...so, what does that mean, exactly? A people of action? A Salvation Army? The Bride of Christ, actually taking up his yoke -his teaching(thanks, Michelle!)- and working together to see people set FREE in Christ...taking care of orphans and widows, and the lonely, and the outcast, and the poor. Becoming a cheerleeder and an advocate, making a difference as only one bearing the name of Christ can make. Keeping steadfast and vigilant on what's happening around us and not lulling ourselves to sleep with 'entertainment' and 'tradition'.

What are the defining characteristics of Impulse-driven and Action-driven people?
Let's look at some examples, and then try to boil it down afterwards.

King David had Bathsheba's husband murdered so he could 'be with' her. (Impulse)Samson kept telling Delilah the secret of his strength because she was purdy. (Impulse) King Herod had to have John the Baptist beheaded because of a promise he made to a manipulative pretty lady. (Impulse) Peter asked Jesus to wash his WHOLE body instead of just his feet. (Sanctified Impulse!) Jael defeated an enemy general with a little patience and a little tent peg through the skull. (ACTION) Esther regained the freedoms of her people through fasting and prayer. (ACTION) Ghandi fought for the poor in India through a series of non-violent demonstrations. (ACTION) Heidi Baker moved to Mozambique to rock little babies in the dirt. (ACTION) Salvationists from all over the world are being called back to their roots of loving the poor and moving in to the neighborhood to bring Jesus there. (serious primitive Salvo ACTION!!)


IMPULSE (def’n): I want to (controlled by desires)- floats through life, looking for short term satisfaction, think mostly of themselves, weird stuff tends to happen to them.

ACTION (def’n): I need to (directed by conviction)- always thinking two steps ahead, looking for long term results, think mostly of others, makes stuff happen, period.

I don't know about you, but I want to be a people of Action.