Too Short

One of our church's missionaries admonishes, "We have to reach the dead before they die." Unsaved people live a short time before being lost forever. It is also true that Christians have to reach the dead (and otherwise serve God) before we die. Believers also live a short lifetime of opportunity.

Lately as I think of all that I could or should do for God, I realize I don't have much time. Based on my health history, I don't expect to live a long life. While I'm not aware of any reason for imminent death, life is uncertain, and anything can happen.

As I consider my life and service for God, certain phrases come to mind. I think of the hymn text, "I wonder have I done my best for Jesus?" No, I haven't. I think of the famous quotation: "The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him." I haven't been that person. I think of the common aspiration of wanting to "make a difference," and that hasn't been as true of me as I would like either.

I haven't fulfilled these goals, nor have I come really close. Those goals of perfection cannot be accomplished by mere humans. My thoughts go to the Bible for a statement that God presents as a more realistic goal, that of hearing His welcoming words: "Well done, good and faithful slave" (Matthew 25:21).

I want to be able to hear those words some day from my Savior. Those words don't require a prominent position, abundant talent, or humanly-evaluated success. They simply require faithfulness - doing what God has assigned day after day, week after week, year after year. They require serving God with earnest effort and a sincere heart.

That is encouraging, because while most of my life has been spent in full-time Christian service, recent years have not been. Now I spend most of my life just making a living, with little time or energy left for serving God. The things I do for God seem small and limited, but God doesn't require my service to be grand, life-encompassing, or full-time. He simply wants me to faithfully do what He asks.

I don't know why God has chosen my current situation for me. My service for Him involves little things that come in scattered segments of an hour or two at a time. As I obey God, however, those acts of service really aren't so small. He chooses the size of the tasks and the proportion of my life that they comprise.

As I consider the avenues of service God has given me over the past seven-and-a-half years (of which I was in full-time ministry only one year), I am reassured as I realize that the ministries I have done and am doing are all in direct answer to prayer. At various points throughout these years, I have prayed the following prayers.

·        "Father, I'm unexpectedly unemployed. What do You want me to do with this time?"
·        "Father, I'm unexpectedly out of Christian service again. Will You give me some way to serve You?"
·        "Father, the way I want to serve within the church is not available to me. What can I do to be involved?"
·        "Father, I want to share the gospel, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Will you show me some 'fishing territory' or a good way to share the gospel?"
·        "Father, I want to do more. Will you give me opportunities?"

God has answered every one of these prayers by presenting some area of ministry for me. That is encouraging. It shows me that God wants to use me. It shows me that when I offer myself to Him, He provides avenues of service. His answers have not typically been dramatic, but God has repeatedly given quiet guidance and asked for my simple obedience.

God always wants to use people who are available and willing.

·        When God called Abraham to a difficult task, Abraham replied, "Here I am" (Genesis 22:1).
·        Joshua declared before all the people, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15).
·        When God called Samuel, Samuel responded, "Speak, for Your servant is listening" (I Samuel 3:10).
·        David stated, "I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8).
·        Isaiah volunteered, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8).
·        Mary yielded, saying, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 2:38).
·        The disciples prayed, "Grant that Your bondservants may speak Your word with all confidence" (Acts 4:29).
·        Paul proclaimed, "For to me, to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).

When Christians respond in like fashion, God is pleased to provide areas of service. They are not always grand; they simply require an obedient yielding to God's purpose, followed by faithful service. "Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?" (Romans 9:21).

I am still praying, "Father, can You make a way so that my service for You can become a bigger part of my life as opposed to secular work?" I don't know what God's answer to that request will be. Maybe He doesn't intend such a life for me, but I do know He is pleased with the willing heart that prompts the request. I also know He will provide me with ways to serve Him and with the energy to do so for my remaining days and years.

"As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, . . . soon it is gone and we fly away. . . . So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:10-12).