Are you Willing? (Thought for November 2022)
November 6, 2022
in Monthly comment
Our lives can get very busy with working commitments, caring for the family and other responsibilities that we may hold. We are often encouraged to put some time aside to relax, follow our hobbies and interest so that we maintain a healthy work life balance. So where do our responsibilities as followers of Jesus fit in with all this? It can be a struggle to make choices at times and so we ask ourselves the question, am I doing enough to serve my Lord or even am I trying to do too much?
We see many examples in the Bible of those who did plenty in the Lord’s service even if they were not always immediately willing. Take Moses when God commanded him to go to Pharoah – he was full of doubt and tried many ways to see if God would send somebody else (Exodus 3-4). God dealt with his doubts by sending Aaron alongside Moses to speak on his behalf and by the certain promise that God himself the great I Am would be with him. What about Jonah? Off you go to Nineveh, said the Lord but he went in the opposite direction to Tarshish with nearly a disastrous end in the belly of a great fish.
When Jesus came to earth, he soon called followers to travel alongside him with the result that his disciples readily left their homes and their work to serve this new Master even although at that point they were not always entirely sure of just who he really was and what he had called them to do. Then there is the account of Philip as he meets the Ethiopian eunuch on the road who was reading from the prophet Isaiah. Explain to me what this means, he asks, and as Philip explains the good news about Jesus he immediately asks
‘What prevents me from being baptized? Acts 8:36b. There and then they both went down to the water and Philip baptized him.
We are called to go out into the world wherever the Lord places us and share the good news of the gospel. This is not always an easy commission and one that we can never do in our own strength. It is only through the spirit of the Lord within us that our efforts might ultimately bear fruit. Jesus does not promise us an easy experience, saying as he did to the disciples in Matt 16:24 Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Within a church fellowship like ours there are often many tasks to be carried out which at first sight do not seem to be the work of a true disciple. Yet what do we read about some of the work of the disciples? They went into town to buy food (John 4:8), they were sent to prepare the Passover meal for what would be the Last Supper (Luke 22:8-13). These were just some of the acts of those who served Jesus and at times our acts of service will seem like that. May we each show a willing servant heart when it comes to volunteering to help out in the knowledge that we are all part of one body and Christ is at the head of it – it is His church! What a privilege it is to be called to serve Him. As we approach Christmas it is a busy time in our church calendar and as we serve Him at these various times and events may all that we do bring glory to His name.
Stuart
Elder
Nov 2022
Comments on this entry are closed.