There is a lot of talk these days in the church about purpose this and purpose that, “purpose driven” and blah, blah, blah. I have to admit that a lot of it sounds like working in the flesh and trying to do “good works”.
God made us for a purpose alright, to surrender our hearts to Him and seek after Him daily. That is our only purpose.
At the same time, we often are called by the Holy Spirit to do work or ministry or whatever you want to call it. Our job is to be seeking the Lord daily in fellowship with Him. God doesn’t want the most talented, He wants someone who is available and will rely on Him. I am actually finding that often if I get into a ministry where it would seem I would be a “natural fit” that it always makes me miserable.
Just as an example, I always made good grades in math classes without any effort and struggled in English classes. It was no accident that I became an accountant when I went to college. I see a strange irony in the fact the Lord would call me to write. The few times I have volunteered to serve on something along the lines of a church finance committee because “it needed to be done” I have hated every second of it. It seems a bit ironic to me really.
I think the Lord operates in this manner because He doesn’t want us to serve necessarily where we are comfortable. We tend to get complacent and try to “take the wheel” so to speak instead of leaning on the Lord daily. He often wants us just a touch out of our comfort zone where we will constantly check in with Him about every little thing and rely on Him instead of relying on our own talent or skills.
What we do know is that the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior we are given Spiritual gifts. It may at times take us a while to discover what our gift or gifts are but we have them.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
The Lord says in His word that He has prepared works for us before hand. If we are seeking Him daily through prayer and study of the word He will lead us to walk right into them. I am finding this is how I have found most of the things I do to serve the Lord.
I would never have thought about writing articles given I am a “math type” person. But the Lord arranged the circumstances where I am now writing for not only the blog page but also for a website on a regular basis. Don’t even get me started about the irony of me helping teach a Sunday school class for three and four year olds. Not to many years ago, I didn’t want kids of my own much less to deal with anyone else’s kids.
We really have to seek the Lord for where we are called to serve. He will arrange for us to fall right into the spot we need to be if we are seeking Him. I would caution that you do not need to buy the baloney of some places these days that would have you take a psychological based “skills assessments” test to discover your “natural abilities” for this or that ministry in their church. This is simply man’s logic trying to “help God along”. Ironic really when God’s word says:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 16:25)
The Lord simply wants people who are seeking Him. He will take care of the rest and get us into a place of where we should be serving Him. Our job is not to do anything other than abide in Jesus and be available when the Lord calls.
We cannot say we are “too young” or “too old” or “not talented enough” when the Lord calls. What the Lord wants are people who will seek Him through prayer and study of His word and be willing to say, “here I am Lord, send me.”
It is not unusual at all for the Lord to take us a bit out of our comfort zone to make sure we are relying on Him instead of our own abilities.
Speaking of the excuse some give of “I am too young to be used effectively for the Lord”, don’t believe it. The Scriptures are full of examples of people who were young when the Lord called them and then used them in powerful ways.
One person that comes to mind is David when he defeated Goliath and led his nation to a great victory. David never doubted for a moment and simply believed what the Lord told him then acted with courage.
Another good example is the prophet Jeremiah. When the Lord called Jeremiah, his first reaction was interesting:
“Then said I: “ Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” But the LORD said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 1:6-8)
Isn’t the Lord’s reply to Jeremiah interesting? The Lord previously in chapter one told Jeremiah that God had ordained him a prophet before he was formed in the womb.
We can rest assured that the Lord has created good works beforehand for us to walk into as well if we are seeking after Him with all our hearts, souls and minds.
And that is our “purpose”:
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” (Matthew 22:37)
