Summertime… Blogging Redux!
All of a sudden my life got… FULL! Today I have about 2 hours before I have a little guy to fill my world with trucks, cars, and everything on the go. Tomorrow we head to Tampa, FL and his new home… but it is Website Wednesday and I WANT to blog too… so I asked and was given permission to choose one of my favorites and “Do the Redux” dance.
“Feed My Lambs”… the second blog I published (with just a little tweaking in the redux).
John 21:15-17 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Tend My lambs.”
I believe we are ALL called to ministry. But I also believe we’ve been scammed by our enemy to think we could never qualify or accomplish the task or be the one called to the work involved. We are afraid we will have to give up everything and travel to far away lands in order to have a “REAL” ministry – one that COUNTS with God.
He *said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”
Jesus asks… __(your name goes here…)__ Do you love Me?”
He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
Do YOU love Me?”
Let the stuttering begin… our mouths can’t keep up with all the reasons why this can’t possibly be directed at me.
“No No I can’t, but I will pray for the one you send…”
“Not me, but I’ll help you send the one who should go.”
“Surely someone else could do it better!”
To be sure, we have been duped. Our enemy (For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12) does all he can to separate us from our God and His will, our neighbors, and even our own hearts which crave to love and be loved.
But… and I hate to be the bearer of bad news… we are wrong to think Jesus isn’t sending us!! We have been lulled into lethargy with the idea that someone else will be sent, that as long as we are supporting those that go with prayer and finances we are excused from the work ministry. We are chosen to stay home and be about all the other business that “somebody” has to do!
WE don’t have time…
WE don’t have the skills…
WE don’t have the call…
WE don’t have the missionary desire…
But Jesus says… “Do you love Me?”… Ummmm… How do YOU answer His question?
We have everything we need do what He asks us to do. The only question left is will we GO and DO?
What does a call on my life look like? I imagine the worst and I know I can never live up to the missionary standard.
Before I go any farther, let me just say that some are called to go to the ends of the earth… and they are given great gifts of faith hope and love to allow God to fulfill His will in their lives so that they may minister to those He brings before them. But God gives those same gifts to those He calls to stay and minister.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Let’s go walking! “Feed My sheep!”
Let’s minister the good work that Jesus prepared for us to feed them with!
Where? Right here… When? Right now… Who? The one God brings before you… What? Side by Side Hand in Hand LOVE!
My friends there is no mystery to being God’s missionary in this life. Everyone of us, those sent to the field and those not sent today, are called to the SAME MISSION.
Galatians 5:15 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Both, mission field and ministry… Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into accord a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things. Love never fails; (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
I have admitted to the many days (years) that I have sat in anxious prayer for God’s plan for my life… waiting for MY calling… MY turn at bat… MY direction in life.
And Jesus smiled… and said… “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Do you love Jesus? “Tend My lambs”… “Shepherd My sheep”… “Tend My sheep”… “love your neighbor
As Heidi Baker (IRIS Ministries) says, “Love the one in front of you.”
Blogging Redux… Feeding the Lambs – with the food of love!
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible