I marvel at the incredible intelligence God has bestowed on some of my colleagues and in looking at their incredible ministries, sometimes I also feel exceptionally unqualified for my own. Sometimes I can't even understand the dialog that runs between them, so I stay out of the discussion. And it is then that I long to be more educated, more articulate, more able to add something to the dialog. But for what purpose? If I am to be honest, it is usually for the purpose of making me somehow look better. To make me look more intelligent. To perhaps be more respected. And at this juncture, God usually crashes into my little daydream to remind me that He is all I need.
The conversation typically goes something like this:
God: What are you thinking about?
Me: Like You don't know?
G: Oh, I do know...but I think you need to really hear what you are saying. So...what are you thinking about?
M: I'm thinking about how inadequate I am to the task You called me to do.
G: Who said you were supposed to be adequate?
M: Well, it would be nice to know that I can handle what you send my way...so perhaps I should go get my doctorate or something.
G: Would that make you adequate to the task I've called you to?
M: Umm...I would at least appear smarter and perhaps people would respect what I say a little more.
G: So this is really more about you than about what I called you to do?
M: Well...I suppose, perhaps...ummm...maybe... Ok...Yes. Since you put it like that.
G: Do you think I AM adequate to the task that I have prepared for you?
M: Sure YOU are! But this is me we are talking about!
G: What was the promise I made right before I left?
M: That You will be with me always?
G: Right! So this is US we are talking about. Not just you. US...you and ME together. And really, if I so chose, I could actually do it all Myself, but I wanted to share a little with you. Like a Father in a workshop teaching His child how to make things, I have invited YOU into my MY workshop, and I will provide everything you need.
M: But what about more education?
G: That may be the path that I have chosen for others to go down...but YOUR path is here in my workshop. Learn of ME. Learn of MY WAYS. Don't lose sight of me in the midst of your dreams of grandeur. That is not the path I have chosen for you. I have fully equipped you for the path that you must walk. I have promised to go with you...and as always, I AM!
M: And that is enough for me God.
And so I come back to realizing that God has called each of us render service where HE has placed us, using the tools that He has given each of us. I have come to realize that He has not called me to be successful. Only faithful. And if I am faithful to that calling, that will be enough.
God help me to be faithful and to remember that You called me to serve right where I am with the tools that You have given me...and that YOU are enough.
Not all the wisdom and skill of man can produce life in the smallest object in nature. It is only through the life which God Himself has imparted, that either plant or animal can live. So it is only through the life from God that spiritual life is begotten in the hearts of men. Unless a man is "born from above," he cannot become a partaker of the life which Christ came to give. John 3:3, Steps to Christ page 68
I appreciate what you shared here, Don Keele, Jr! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing these thoughts. This is for real. I definitely need to remember these things too. In preparing for Sabbath School tomorrow (one of those things that makes me feel inadequate ;), I ran into the story in Acts 14 of Paul and Barnabas visiting the churches they just planted and appointing elders. Those elders didn't go to seminary (but they at least already knew Greek, I guess--ha), they didn't have any experience to be qualified. But they were recognized as leaders, prayed and fasted over, and "they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe." The highest degree or honor that can ever be conferred upon us is to be called by God to serve wherever He sends us. The work He does through us--as inadequate as we feel--seems to be His favorite recruiting strategy as well.
ReplyDelete