04/25/2017
We are all inclined to work for the kingdom when we are in the middle of a calling, but how do we spend our time after God has called us out, after a calling is complete, and we are waiting for God to reinsert us into his service? Is this simply a time of rest?
I have known pastors who were called out of a church where they had served for a number of years. Some took the opportunity to relax and lazily while away the days as they waited for God to call them back into service. But is this really what God wants them to do? Let's listen to what scripture tells the pastors...
“preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”
2 Timothy 4:2 ESV
This past Sunday evening, my wife and I were having dinner at a Captain D's restaurant not far from Interstate 40 in Nashville. As we ate our dinner we overheard a man speaking with a couple about God. He was witnessing to them about his faith and how wonderful the Lord had been to him. Finally the couple finished their meal and the man blessed them in a quick prayer and they continued on their journey accompanied by God's Word and the man's prayed hedge of protection. This man of faith immediately struck up a conversation with another family that had just arrived, and the love in his voice was settling and disarming as he told them about his God. He was preaching in this unusual place... this makeshift church. Just because a pastor doesn't have a church or a congregation to serve, doesn't mean that God's move in his life should go dormant. The need to serve God should be irresistible, like a spring of flowing water that cannot be contained.
As lay people the temptation can be equally strong when a calling within the church is over, and we wait on the Lord to use us once more... you might be thinking "my term on the church board is complete and I really enjoy just going to church and being a body in the pews on Sunday," but is that what You really should be doing?
There are men and women in my church who come off of an official church duty and sit on the pew, but there are others who quietly go about serving in some unassuming way... they help a young person through a tough time in their life, they clean a bathroom, they begin to help a Sunday school teacher in their class, or one of many other jobs that need to be done. They do this as they wait for God to call them to some greater task. Interestingly, some never receive a greater calling, but find themselves fulfilled and in the arms of Christ as they do these "servant" tasks... no pay, no notice, no acclaim, just a quiet walk with Jesus to reward them. Not all great things of the kingdom have the appearance of greatness.
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,”
Titus 2:11-13 ESV
So whether we are a pastor, a deacon, or a layperson, our times between callings are not meant to be spent idling our hours away. Sure it is good to rest, but rest can come in many forms and doesn't necessarily mean total inactivity. Get off the couch, turn off the television, pick up the Bible, get on your knees, perhaps even pick up a mop, or establish a church in some unlikely spot, but do something as you wait. This will be a blessing to you, and to others; some of whom might not even realize that it is you who are blessing them. God knows our hearts, but He Also sees our love in how we reveal it. Love Him as you wait on His call, and you will be surprised to find that He loves what you are doing... no matter what it is.
It was Mother's Day and the children couldn't wait to give Ann their gifts. As they came into the kitchen they could see the fine gift I had given her, and the expensive store bought card, but each knew their present was special; there were tracings of tiny hands, little clay figures that had to be described, a painted paper plate with "I Love You Mommy" written on it in scrawled script, and folded handmade cards, colored with care. The tears in Ann's eyes and the hugs and praise she gave each child was met with little smiles and tiny arms wrapped around her neck. These gifts meant more to her than the store bought one that I had given, and the cards contained a love that no Hallmark poet could convey. That is what our service to God looks like when we quietly go about loving Him in between our callings.
The pastor of Captain D's, the guy who picks up trash for Jesus on the church parking lot, the lady who cleans the oven in the church kitchen... these are gifts that look every bit like tiny hands traced on a piece of construction paper. These are the tracings of our hearts to God.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your callings, but Father, I also thank you for those times between callings as well. As much as I love serving you in some grand or dramatic way, I love you in the quiet times when my service is known only to you. Lord, you are the stillness in my life, the quiet between busy days, and the focus of my efforts, great and small, as I wait upon you. Jesus, you are the sweetness in the most unpleasant task, and you make the unbearable burden light. I thank you for those times when I bear that burden before the kingdom and all men, and I also thank you for the times when you ask me to bear my burden in secret... known only to us. A man takes his bride before the world, but he loves her most intimately in the private times... Holy Father it is in those times between callings that I love you in unassuming truth... see me in my most vulnerable, and love me as I wait in patient service.
Rich Forbes