For those who are in the ministry…well…it’s Monday, time to either celebrate or second guess what happened yesterday!
I know from personal experience that the number one thing I second guess on Monday’s when I am “in a valley” is me! (Did God REALLY call me…or was it the pizza I had the night before?)
BUT…something has caught my attention lately while reading through Paul’s letters…he begins each one of them by identifying the fact that he has been called to be an Apostle by God Himself. (See II Timothy 1:1, I Timothy 1:1, Colossians 1:1)
As I’ve been reading through these letters there has been a thought that has kept coming up over and over…
God knew EXACTLY what He was doing when He called you…and not only has He called you but has gifted and empowered you to do the work that He has prepared for you to do!
Think about that…God knew exactly what He was doing when He called you. He didn’t dial the wrong number, there wasn’t an angel that messed up and went to you instead of your next door neighbor. He called YOU (and…when we learn to allow our identity to be in the fact that the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE called us instead of who retweets us or how many people we have in church…we can truly learn to rely on His strength and not our own!)
He called us…not because of who we were but in spite of it!!! He knew everything about us…all of our previous sins (and the future ones as well) and yet still chose to call us to Himself and give us stewardship of something that is very near to His heart…His church!
He called you not because He knew you could get it done…but because He knew you were the person who would bring Him the most glory. I once heard Rick Warren say that God most often puts His strongest gifts in His weakest vessels! (II Corinthians 4:7)
He called us…AND gifted/empowered us to do HIS work! Sure, there are times when we feel like we literally can’t go on…that our strength is zapped and we want to tap out…and it is in those times that I have discovered that He most often does His best work!
He called you, equipped you, will sustain you and be with you always! SO…if you are second guessing yesterday…just remember that God isn’t second guessing you!!! Fix your eyes on Him and get on with whatever He’s called you to do!