As I sit to type, Father, fill my heart, and mind with Your presence. Sweep through it, clearing all the cobwebs from all the corners. Eliminate anything that doesn’t belong in Your abode. Amen.

Luke 10:1-2 (<<click to read the passage)

I am very blessed that in my lifetime I have never once been unemployed. I have worked and served in several different places. I have been a minister of music, a minister of youth, a sales associate in a Christian bookstore, a fork-lift operator, a children’s pastor, a sales associate in a major retail chain, and now a school bus driver. But in all of those transitions, I have never had a lag time between them. Nor have I ever been laid off and needed to find some other means of income.

I realize that many cannot say that, especially in the current state of our nation’s economy. I am not special; it is just how my life has been.

From as far back as I can remember, I have felt that God called me to ministry, but if you look at the jobs I’ve had not all of them were in a church setting. What do you think of when you hear that someone is a minister? There are many words you might use to describe them but for the most part, most of our definitions would put that person into a church setting where they would “minister” to others on a regular basis. They would probably receive most of their support from said churches, as well.

I like what one of my churches had set a precedent long before I ever stepped into their building for the very first time. It was printed in their bulletins and I have continued to do so over the fourteen years that I have been their pastor.

In a box that has a header of Servant Leaders Today, following the word Ministers is the word Congregation. My name is not the sole name affiliated with that term – every believer that walks through the doors of that church (or that tunes in to the live broadcasting of our services) is a minister.

I love the very first sentence in my Life Application Study Bible about verse 2 in today’s passage. It states, “Christian service has no unemployment.”

No matter what “job” I have ever had, not once has my relationship with Jesus been set aside. And just as important is the fact that my responsibilities as a follower of Jesus do not have “Lone Ranger” attached to it. We are a body of believers. 1 Corinthians 12:12 makes it clear,

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. (NLT)

We are one part of many. We are one minister amongst a multitude of believers.

On occasion we may need to minister alone but, as with any task, the more that join our effort the more opportunities will be had. Jesus informed the troop of disciples that He sent out and us as well that “the harvest is abundant [for there are many need to hear the good news about salvation], but He also declares, the workers [those available to proclaim the message of salvation] are few.”

And then Jesus called them, and He calls us, to pray. The more who join together to “work the fields” the greater the harvest will be.

Lord Jesus, may we be diligent in our prayers for others to join us in our efforts from Your Kingdom. It really is a life or death situation!

May 11th, 2020, Mon, 8:51 pm