Am I capable?
AM I CAPABLE?
cwebaudit.com
Mark:
2 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left,
not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.
4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd,
they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it
and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.
...
For those of you feeling compressed by the unanswered emails in your inbox,
ask yourself,
"Am I capable of leading a truly great ministry, since a great ministry requires so much time?"
It's a fair question. If we analyzed the lives of the apostles, how much of the apostles' time did Jesus demand? We get frustrated when our inbox and our planning calendars don't syncopate.
Perhaps we are the problem. American professionals in all fields operate under the mindset that that a successful person always has a full planning calendar.
I oppose this mindset, claiming that pastors and parents both need a different mindset,
leaving open time for God and kids to fill, with their drop-in appointments without creating conflict and having to reschedule other appointments, which lowers our respectability in the eyes of others,
(because an appointment is a promise, so a broken appointment is a broken promise,
and a broken promise is a degradation of the person the appointment belongs to.)
While we each have a boatload of projects waiting, what if that one time slot stays open?
Work on a sermon, pray, call stay-at homes - have a fill-in list for empty times
Take a child or grandchild out for ice cream and walk in a park amongst God's trees.
not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.
4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd,
they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it
and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.
...
For those of you feeling compressed by the unanswered emails in your inbox,
ask yourself,
"Am I capable of leading a truly great ministry, since a great ministry requires so much time?"
It's a fair question. If we analyzed the lives of the apostles, how much of the apostles' time did Jesus demand? We get frustrated when our inbox and our planning calendars don't syncopate.
Perhaps we are the problem. American professionals in all fields operate under the mindset that that a successful person always has a full planning calendar.
I oppose this mindset, claiming that pastors and parents both need a different mindset,
leaving open time for God and kids to fill, with their drop-in appointments without creating conflict and having to reschedule other appointments, which lowers our respectability in the eyes of others,
(because an appointment is a promise, so a broken appointment is a broken promise,
and a broken promise is a degradation of the person the appointment belongs to.)
While we each have a boatload of projects waiting, what if that one time slot stays open?
Work on a sermon, pray, call stay-at homes - have a fill-in list for empty times
Take a child or grandchild out for ice cream and walk in a park amongst God's trees.
the suitcases represent liberties and personal latitude.
cwebaudit.com
Now let's look at the constrictive lives of pastors and missionaries -
that even other Christians seem exempt from.
The US Constitution and The New Testament are miles apart on many issues.
The US Constitution is a Highway-to-Hell, if we partake in every liberty it affords.
While Constitutional liberty and Gospel liberty has a few parallels,
Gospel citizenship and Constitutional citizenship often oppose each other.
One huge contrast is the commitment of time that Gospel citizenship requires.
And this is most evident in the lives of top-notch pastors and missionaries.
And sometimes these pastors and missionaries wish they had more freedom to choose
their commitments and their allowances.
But from the outside looking in, I can see that:
1) Pastoring is a calling, not a self-chosen vocation.
2) There is a special crown for pastors, which indicates a more difficult life.
3) Ephesians 2: 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I believe that this scripture means that we were each given our tasks before we were even born.
And some of us are scripted to pack a tighter suitcase than others.
Looking at the photo, can you imagine the size of Jesus' suitcase?
