04/25/2025
We are all inclined to work for the kingdom once God has called us to do something for Him, but how do we spend our time beforehand, or after God has called us out of what we have been doing? How do we spend our time after a calling is complete and we are waiting for Him to use us again? Is this simply a time of rest or retirement?
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 lazily and while away the days as they waited for God to call them back into His service. But is that really what He wants them to do? Let's listen to what scripture has to say to these 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 doesn’t sound like we are to simply play golf, or read a few good books. No, we are meant to fill our time with useful endeavors. Maybe we are supposed to spend our days working in a soup kitchen, teaching bible study in our church, or telling a stranger about Jesus Christ and God. Whatever useful pursuit that presents itself should be what fills our time.
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 with a quick prayer and they continued on 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 the love in his voice was both calm and comforting as he told them about his relationship with Jesus. He wasn’t just eating his dinner, 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 bubbles up from the ground and cannot be contained.
As lay people the temptation should be equally strong when a calling within the church is over, and we are waiting on the Lord to use us once more... you might be thinking "my term on the church board is complete and I am really enjoying 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 every church who come off of an official church duty and just sit on the pew, but there are many 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 with their class, or one of many other jobs that need to be done. They do all these things while waiting 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. You see, not all great things of the kingdom have an appearance of greatness.
“But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.””
Luke 9:47-48 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 (like a Captain D’s Restaurant), but do something as you wait. This will be a blessing to you, and to others; some of whom might not even realize who it is that is blessing them. God knows our hearts, but He Also sees our love in how we reveal them. 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.
“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[a] you did it to me.’”
Matthew 25:40 ESV
It was Mother's Day and our 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 have conveyed. This is what our service to God looks like when we quietly go about loving Him in between our callings.
The impromptu “Pastor of Captain D's”, the guy who picks up trash for Jesus on the 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 pieces of construction paper. These are the tracings of our hearts that we give to God as gifts of love each day.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your calling me, 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 also 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 my 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 burdens light. I thank you for those times when I bear those unpleasant burdens before our Father’s kingdom and all His children, and I also thank you for the times when you ask me to do your bidding in secret... known only to you and me. A man takes his bride before the world, but he loves her most intimately and completely in their private times... Holy Father it is in those times between my callings that I love you in unassuming truth... see me at my most vulnerable Abba and love me dearly as I await your next call to service. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who loves me whether I am running to your arms or strolling slowly in my faith, and whether I am serving you on a mountain top or surrounded by lost souls in a dark and lonely valley. Holy are you who inspires me and encourages me wherever I am in my life, whatever my station in it might be, or how discouraged I might have become in my faith. You lift me up Father, but even when you don’t, I will stand ready for that moment, and practice for it by raising my arms in anticipation of your embrace… I will love you in secret service, and quiet prayers that only you can hear. Praised be your name Holy Father, whether we meet you in a palace, or a tent camp filled with refugees from this fallen world… for they are all the downtrodden and least in life. Let your Word be my wealth, and my love for you and my neighbors be my reward. When my voice is a quiet whisper and almost silent to the world, I pray that you will hear me shouting your praises in the halls of glory saying: “Praised Be To You My Lord My God and Your Son Jesus Christ!”, “Wonderful Are You, and Greatly to Be Praised!”, “Bless You In All Things Just as You Bless Me, in the Great and Small; In the Seen and Unseen!” I ask this in the Wonderful Name of Jesus by proclaiming aloud…
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And all will join with me as we sing… AMEN!
“I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.”
Psalm 30:1 KJV
“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
“And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.””
Matthew 5:2-3 ESV
Rich Forbes