04/25/2023
We are all moved to work diligently for the kingdom when we are in the middle of an active calling, but how do we spend our time after God has called us out, after a calling is complete, and we are praying for God to reinsert us into his service? Is this simply a time of rest, do we give up and put our faith on the shelf, or maybe we find ourselves unsettled, despondent, or impatient as we cry and ask for a new assignment?
I have known pastors who were called out of a church where they had served for a number of years. Some chose to relax and others to be lazy while wiling away the days as they waited for God to call them back into active service. But what if that next big calling doesn’t come? What do we do then, and is sitting around doing nothing what God wants us to do? Let's listen to what scripture tells those who aren’t actively engaged in a calling...
“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
One 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 with their journey accompanied by God's Word and the hedge of protection the man had prayed over them. This man of faith immediately struck up a conversation with another family that had just arrived, and I could tell that they found the love in his voice both settling and disarming as he told them about Jesus and 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, even between callings, should be irresistible. Our desire to serve, even in the most humble ways, should be like a spring of flowing water that cannot be contained.
As lay people the temptation to relax and withdraw from church service can be strong when a calling within the church is over, and we are waiting on the Lord to use us once more... we might be thinking that "my service on the church board is complete and I’m really enjoying just going to church on Sunday and being another body in the pews" but is that really what we should be doing?
There are men and women in every 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 another 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 who rewards 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 to others. 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 were 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 the peacefully still times between our callings.
Maybe we will find our service as the self-appointed pastor of Captain D's, the guy who picks up trash for Jesus on the church parking lot, or 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. Are you standing before him with a Hallmark card and a box of store bought candy today, or are you blessing Him with a crayon drawing of your hand, or your heart?
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 my cross boldly 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.
Father, I think of how a man openly takes a woman to be his bride before the world, but how he loves her most intimately in the private times they spend together. Holy Father it is in such times of faith, when I am between your great callings, that I seek and worship you most fervently, in Spirit and truth. It is in these times, when you see me at my most vulnerable, that I come to know the depth of your love for me. I pray for patience in these unassuming seasons as I wait longingly to hear your voice, and bide my time in patient and humble service to you. It is also in these seasons of my faith that I feel your most intimate touches and hear your loving whispers. Help me Lord to wait patiently for your next amazing call… but if that call doesn’t come, give me the peace of Christ as I lean quietly on you, and wait expectantly for His glorious return.
Rich Forbes