I was volunteering at an Operation Christmas Child warehouse in Denver this past weekend, unpacking shoeboxes from cartons, pulling out checks from boxes, sorting through boxes for inappropriate items, taping boxes, re-cartonizing boxes, scanning labels, and taping cartons up, saying goodbye to them as they slid down rollers to fork lifts. As I was observing others around me, I was made aware of several things.
1. We were all working together as the body of Christ. The head of each "team" was making sure that everyone felt they were using the gifts God had given them in processing these gifts for children in the Philippines. If we had all run around doing every job as one person, it would have been utter chaos and confusion. But instead, it was a motivated, organized, steady moving process.
2. We were SERVING. What's so unique about that? People serve others in various ways every day. It gives the servers a purpose, a point. It gives the served joy and thanks. But without the need for service, where would we be? If we still lived in the perfect world that Adam and Eve lived in, there would be no need for service, and no serving. What a lovely thing it would be to see no suffering, no need for service, no pain. But what a blessing it is to serve those in need! In the midst of the brokenness and the hurting, God created a lovely opportunity for us to begin the process of healing as we serve and are served. How important it is to be His hands and feet! We are becoming more and more like him as we help and are helped. A glorious cause for the glory of The King.
"For God is not unjust so as to look over your work and the love that you have shown for His Name in serving the Saints, as you still do." ~Hebrews 6:10
"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve..."~Mark 10:45
Monday, November 26, 2012
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Unaware
Unaware
“Unaware of my fears, unaware of my shame, nothing else matters here, but glorifying your name. Unaware of everything knowing you’re aware of me.”
Isn’t this the truth God has called us to? Mercy Me is one of my favorite Christian bands; I find The Truth, scripture, meaning, and encouragement in their lyrics.
When we are made new in Christ, everything old fades away. We are equipped to be unaware of our fears and shame, living only for the glory of God. But do we take hold of that precious gift we are given? Often, the answer is no.
I have struggled with finding my place in God’s world a lot recently. There is a burning desire in my heart to go and save the world. Right here. Right now. I have this viewpoint that I can only make a difference in the world if I go to a foreign country and am a missionary. I know it’s not what God would say to me, but somehow I still believe it’s true. I love the words Mercy Me used to describe this feeling in their song, “In The Blink Of An Eye.” “How can I further Your kingdom, when I’m so wrapped up in mine?” Day to day life feels like drudgery; meaningless, wasting time. How am I glorifying God and furthering His kingdom when I’m brushing my teeth, taking a shower, doing homework, going shopping, watching a movie, or cleaning the house?
In Oswald Chamber’s book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” he spends a few days in the October section of the devotional going over what being a missionary really looks like. “We are taken up with active work while people all around are ripe to harvest, and we do not reap one of them, but waste our Lord’s time in over-energized activities. Suppose the crisis comes in your father’s life, in your brother’s life, are you there as a laborer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? No Christian has a special work to do. Our Lord calls to no special work: He calls to Himself. ‘Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,’ and he will engineer circumstances and thrust you out.”
What a powerful statement. God does not desire that we should we striving aimlessly, in a flurry of activity, to be missionaries, busying ourselves with what we deem important work. It is just as important for us to minister to a hurting friend, as it is for a missionary in India to save a boy from poverty, and bring him to Christ. How different life would look if we lived this way! Instead of running around like mad people, volunteering everywhere, trying to reach hundreds of people for the kingdom at once, what if we would have time when a friend called and said, “I just need someone to talk to.” God would be equally, if not more pleased, with the latter.
“Unaware of my fears, unaware of my shame, nothing else matters here, but glorifying your name. Unaware of everything knowing you’re aware of me.”
Isn’t this the truth God has called us to? Mercy Me is one of my favorite Christian bands; I find The Truth, scripture, meaning, and encouragement in their lyrics.
When we are made new in Christ, everything old fades away. We are equipped to be unaware of our fears and shame, living only for the glory of God. But do we take hold of that precious gift we are given? Often, the answer is no.
I have struggled with finding my place in God’s world a lot recently. There is a burning desire in my heart to go and save the world. Right here. Right now. I have this viewpoint that I can only make a difference in the world if I go to a foreign country and am a missionary. I know it’s not what God would say to me, but somehow I still believe it’s true. I love the words Mercy Me used to describe this feeling in their song, “In The Blink Of An Eye.” “How can I further Your kingdom, when I’m so wrapped up in mine?” Day to day life feels like drudgery; meaningless, wasting time. How am I glorifying God and furthering His kingdom when I’m brushing my teeth, taking a shower, doing homework, going shopping, watching a movie, or cleaning the house?
In Oswald Chamber’s book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” he spends a few days in the October section of the devotional going over what being a missionary really looks like. “We are taken up with active work while people all around are ripe to harvest, and we do not reap one of them, but waste our Lord’s time in over-energized activities. Suppose the crisis comes in your father’s life, in your brother’s life, are you there as a laborer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? No Christian has a special work to do. Our Lord calls to no special work: He calls to Himself. ‘Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,’ and he will engineer circumstances and thrust you out.”
What a powerful statement. God does not desire that we should we striving aimlessly, in a flurry of activity, to be missionaries, busying ourselves with what we deem important work. It is just as important for us to minister to a hurting friend, as it is for a missionary in India to save a boy from poverty, and bring him to Christ. How different life would look if we lived this way! Instead of running around like mad people, volunteering everywhere, trying to reach hundreds of people for the kingdom at once, what if we would have time when a friend called and said, “I just need someone to talk to.” God would be equally, if not more pleased, with the latter.
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