As God's people, we are called to reach out--we are commanded to go and tell others:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go" (Matthew 28:18b-19a)
We all talk about spreading God's Word. After all, we want others to come to know Christ and to experience the grace we have been given.
But what are we doing to make that happen?
That's not to say that each person is called to take off to a distant land, to give up everything else and become a missionary. While it is an honorable calling, it isn't everyone's calling.
What it does mean, though, is that you are called to take your spot. In 1 Corinthians 12, we are given a picture of the Church being a body.
A body is a strange thing--really, take a good look at it. Any one part on its own is rather awkward, don't you think? What would it be like if a body was made up of lots of copies of the same part? I don't know about you, but I don't think I would want to see a body made entirely of mouths.
And yet, it seems we as Christians tend to think that we should all be identical. We look around and see other people and what God has called them to do...
...and we get intimidated and shrink back into ourselves.
We look at the person reaching thousands, that incredible man of God who can stand up and speak and watch as hundreds pour to the altar, and think, "If only I could speak like that..."
We see the mom whose kids never misbehave and whose house is perfectly put together and always clean and think, "If only I didn't stink at this mom thing..."
We look at the missionary holding the sick babies and ministering to their families and think, "If only I could do something so meaningful with my life..."
And to make it worse, those statements are usually followed by something like, "...then I would really have a testimony worth telling."
It's easy to look at others and think that what we have just isn't enough.
"But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be." (1 Corinthians 12:18)
Do you realize that means you?
You see, God has given you something He didn't give Billy Graham or Max Lucado or Joyce Meyer or your pastor or that mom with the perfect kids and spotless house.
And though we may not all be able to stand up and speak in front of hundreds and explain the Scriptures in a way everyone can relate to and understand, we can tell our stories.
You can be yourself and tell your story, because it is part of His story and His story needs to be told.
He gave you your story, and that's enough.
***
Just as an aside (and a plea for prayers and understanding when my posts seem scattered and sparse), I've realized this myself lately. I can't tell anyone else's story, but I can tell mine--including all the messy parts--and let other people see how God has worked in my life...So that's what I've started working on. Hopefully I'll have something relatively complete and ready to put out there before too long, and I hope you'll hang on with me until then.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go" (Matthew 28:18b-19a)
We all talk about spreading God's Word. After all, we want others to come to know Christ and to experience the grace we have been given.
But what are we doing to make that happen?
That's not to say that each person is called to take off to a distant land, to give up everything else and become a missionary. While it is an honorable calling, it isn't everyone's calling.
What it does mean, though, is that you are called to take your spot. In 1 Corinthians 12, we are given a picture of the Church being a body.
A body is a strange thing--really, take a good look at it. Any one part on its own is rather awkward, don't you think? What would it be like if a body was made up of lots of copies of the same part? I don't know about you, but I don't think I would want to see a body made entirely of mouths.
And yet, it seems we as Christians tend to think that we should all be identical. We look around and see other people and what God has called them to do...
...and we get intimidated and shrink back into ourselves.
We look at the person reaching thousands, that incredible man of God who can stand up and speak and watch as hundreds pour to the altar, and think, "If only I could speak like that..."
We see the mom whose kids never misbehave and whose house is perfectly put together and always clean and think, "If only I didn't stink at this mom thing..."
We look at the missionary holding the sick babies and ministering to their families and think, "If only I could do something so meaningful with my life..."
And to make it worse, those statements are usually followed by something like, "...then I would really have a testimony worth telling."
It's easy to look at others and think that what we have just isn't enough.
"But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be." (1 Corinthians 12:18)
Do you realize that means you?
You see, God has given you something He didn't give Billy Graham or Max Lucado or Joyce Meyer or your pastor or that mom with the perfect kids and spotless house.
He gave you your story.
And though we may not all be able to stand up and speak in front of hundreds and explain the Scriptures in a way everyone can relate to and understand, we can tell our stories.
You can be yourself and tell your story, because it is part of His story and His story needs to be told.
He gave you your story, and that's enough.
***
Just as an aside (and a plea for prayers and understanding when my posts seem scattered and sparse), I've realized this myself lately. I can't tell anyone else's story, but I can tell mine--including all the messy parts--and let other people see how God has worked in my life...So that's what I've started working on. Hopefully I'll have something relatively complete and ready to put out there before too long, and I hope you'll hang on with me until then.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thoughts? I would love to hear them!
~Mandy