It's been a great study! As a lion chaser, it was encouraging for M. Batterson to treat the art of lion chasing as a positive and sought after life character. Often in my own life, I have wondered why I was geared toward living on the edge when so many in our culture choose the safe, less risky life. It is because I've discovered a stronger presence of God while on the edge then anywhere else. It requires faith and the appearance of foolishness to live this life. It is where I choose to be.
"Faith is the willingness to look foolish" M.Batterson
Consider David and Goliath. Without God, David not only looked foolish but was foolish. He had no experience in giant killing. He only had minimal weaponry. He was undersized. Underprivileged. Underencouraged. He was just about 'under' everything. But, there was one thing for sure. David did not lack confidence in his God and lived life to the max. David knew what it was like to take a lion and a bear by the throat and squeeze the life out of them. He knew what it was like to sleep on a bear skin rug and wear a lion skin coat to tend the sheep.
David knew humility in tending the sheep and David knew courage in training for the big kill. Goliath was going to go down! How's the verse go that says, 'Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world'? David appeared foolish running at Goliath. So foolish that Goliath may have thrown his head back laughing. That's when his armor protected forehead was exposed and David let his rock fly. Whack! Goliath goes down! David faith goes up! God grins.
We as "support staffers" have a unique role to play in the life of our church and the lives of our pastors. We are to be compassionate for Christ and build that compassion into our jobs. We are to hold up the arms of the pastors when they tire by being quick to encourage and help. We are to love the work we do and enthusiastically embrace the work we'd rather not do. We are to serve without fear of appearing foolish.
Christ was not normal. He lived his life without fear. We must work passionately for Christ in our staff support roles without fear. We are to be confident God is at work in us to produce the highest quality product possible with the talents He has blessed us with. We are to serve without fear. We are to serve God who has given each of us a unique set of skills and talents. There is no one like you to better serve faithfully and uniquely foolish as you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Great stuff. I sometimes wonder also why others are so fearful. Someone mentioned to me that the reason he does not go on missions trips is that he has a family and he doesn't want to take the chance of something happening to him and leaving his kids and wife behind. That sounds like a pretty good reason until you put that into perspective with God's word. We have to exercise faith in all that we do. I wouldn't say I'm not going to get on the freeway because I might be killed and leave my family behind.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of people going on mission trips. They are probably no more dangerous than going on a safari or vacation. But not many would say I'm not going on that vacation to Hawaii because I might not return home to my family.
Thanks for your help in leading this Bible study.
My pleasure. Thank you for the opportunity. Archie
Post a Comment