Tag Archive for servanthood

Community

2013-07-02 Devotional No comments

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
Honor one another above yourselves.
(Romans 12:10, NIV)

Each of us is part of a group of people—
a community.
In fact, we are members of multiple communities:
family,
church,
city,
nation,
and more.
We have received so much from these groups.
We owe them a tremendous debt.

In their immaturity, our children are often unaware of such debts.
They feel obligated only to their own desires.
They think only of themselves.

It’s easy for us to make the same mistake.
We’ve inherited so many of the blessings we enjoy:
roads,
schools,
a stable government;
knowledge,
moral values,
our Christian faith.
We didn’t earn any of these.
They were left to us by others.

What communities do you belong to?
To whom do you owe a debt?

Ministry by Numbers: Jesus’ Example

2013-06-27 Devotional One comment

God has been teaching me not to measure my ministry by numbers. I find His perfect example of that in Jesus.

Read the gospel of John, and focus on what Jesus says about His relationship with His Father. You’ll be fascinated.

His only goal, His only ambition was to follow the Father.

“I do not seek my own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 5:30, NASB)

His food, His joy, His constant purpose was to please the Father.

“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”

“He who sent Me has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” (John 4:34; 8:29, NASB)

His only resource, His only wisdom, strength, and adequacy was the Father. He simply said what the Father told Him to say and did what the Father showed Him to do. Nothing else. Nothing more, and nothing less.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son does in like manner.”

“I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”

“The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” (John 5:19; 8:28; 14:24, NASB)

As I read the gospels, I get the impression that of all the thousands that crowded around Jesus and witnessed His miracles, relatively few believed to the point of obedience. He never seemed concerned about numerical results. He measured His ministry only by obedience to the Father.

The Father is calling me to minister as Jesus did: to seek always and only to obey and please and rely completely on Him. For in the end, our fruitfulness depends entirely on our connection to Christ:

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NASB)

Ministry by Numbers

2013-06-25 Creative Process, Devotional No comments

I spent 34 years working for a major church music publisher, with most of that time spent in management in one form or another. Numbers were an integral part of my job. We constantly measured our ministry by numbers—sales, profits, overhead, budgets, projections, etc., etc.

I carried that mindset over into my personal ministries and was concerned when the numbers just wouldn’t come. After all, isn’t “numbers” one of the reasons we writers want to get published? Publication helps us reach more people with the message, right?

But several years ago, after failing yet again to connect with a book publisher, the Lord clearly told me, “Focus on the people I have already entrusted to you.” I was teaching a Sunday School class at the time (I still am)—15 to 20 mostly-older adults. So I started a weekly email to them which included a devotional reading that led into a recording of one of my hymns. The email was called, IMAGES OF CHRIST in Word & Song. In surveying what people God had already entrusted to me, I sent the email to family and friends as well. That weekly email ran for over four years before becoming this blog.

Still, much of my creative work starts with my modest-sized Sunday School class. I not only provide them with weekly Bible lessons but with a hymn, a devotional piece, and daily scriptural readings, all interwoven with our Sunday lesson. Sure, I’d love to see the material reach beyond them, and I follow the Lord’s leading in that regard.

But God has been weaning me off the numbers game as a measure for His ministry. Remember, He created the universe from a word. He doesn’t need more “stuff”. He can make more of that anytime He chooses. What He prizes are not quantities but love and trust. That’s what I focus on giving Him.

Whom has the Lord already entrusted to you? Focus your ministry on them.

God Works through Us

2013-06-23 Devotional with Hymn No comments

From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
(Romans 11:36, NASB)

Almighty God, unlimited in power,
delights to work through His creatures—
through angels (the word simply means “messengers”),
through human beings of all backgrounds and personalities,
through families, groups, races, and nations.

He works through
children and the aged,
warriors and sages,
rich and poor,
the weak and the powerful,
through those highly respected and
through the despised and ignored.

He uses both
joy and pain,
vast epochs and fleeting seconds,
wisdom and inexperience,
sickness and health,
the obvious and the mysterious,
the ordinary and the spectacular.
(Many such distinctions flow more from human ignorance than from eternal reality.)

Why would such a God,
infinite in resources and
without weakness or need,
choose to work through flawed and troublesome creatures like us?

Because He made us,
He knows us, and
He loves us.
As He shares His work with us,
we share more fully in Him.
We experience
His power,
His love, and
the privilege of being vessels of His ever-flowing, ever-giving life.

He is like a grandmother who asks her two-year old grandchild to
help her make cookies.
She doesn’t do it because she needs help with the cookies,
but to bring herself together with this growing person
in a common joy.
They’re still grandma’s cookies,
but the two have shared
a precious experience,
a common purpose, and
a bond that will outlast the lingering sweetness.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: God’s Mysterious Ways
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Catch Me Up in Your Work

2013-06-20 Devotional No comments

God,
I want to do something important–
important to You and
important to those You love.
Father,
it doesn’t have to feel important right now.

But I want to be
caught up in You and in Your work–
not what my interests
assume to be Your work,
or what I want to be Your work,
but what is Your work.
It doesn’t matter how small it seems,
or how overwhelming.

Lord, catch me up in the need,
not just in my own little task.
My efforts are partial and passing.
The need is bigger.
The need will go on.

Father,
I look to You.
Move me by Your Spirit.
Move me with Your heart today.
Catch me up in Your work.

Fulfill Your Ministry

2013-06-13 Devotional No comments

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus . . .
Be sober in all things,
endure hardship,
do the work of an evangelist,
fulfill your ministry.
(2 Timothy 4:1, 5, NASB)

Friend,
in hardship, when you are discouraged,
fulfill your ministry.

In comfortable times,
be careful to
fulfill your ministry.

When you seem to be a success
or a failure, just
fulfill your ministry.

Be alert to your Lord’s leadership.
He will surprise you
with opportunities to
fulfill your ministry.

Time is so short.
You will soon stand before
the One who called you
and give personal account.
Everyone around you
is facing that judgment.

Friend,
now,
every day,
while there is time,
fulfill your ministry.

Focused for Ministry

2013-05-28 Devotional No comments

I watched him sitting on the platform–tall, perfectly groomed, distinguished, yet warm and personable. He had been our pastor for only a couple of weeks, and I was sure he–like the rest of us on a new job–was trying to “fit in” and make a good impression.

But what was on his mind on a Sunday morning, moments before the service would start? Was he thinking about his appearance, or how he would present himself? Was he getting that great smile ready to go?

I remember hoping he was free from all that and was focused purely on listening for the Lord’s leadership. I wanted him to be prepared and sensitive, single-mindedly ready to speak God’s word for us and lead us as the Spirit directed. That’s what we need in a pastor. We don’t want to miss anything the Lord has for us. We’re not even interested in the pastor’s personal ideas. We just want to hear from the Living God and meet Him.

That made me think.

Don’t the people to whom we minister–in our homes, at church, on our jobs–have the same right to ask that of us? They don’t want us distracted by personal considerations or our own selfish agendas or ideas. Struggling, hurting people don’t care about our careers or our greedy egos. They need us to be single-mindedly focused on listening to the Lord and letting Him speak. That’s what they hunger for. As servants of God, that’s what we owe them.

Holy Spirit, we look to You. We are listening. Speak through us. Enable us. Love through us, precious Jesus. Glorify yourself through all that we are and all that we do. Amen.

Give Them Jesus

2013-05-14 Creative Process, Devotional, Evangelistic No comments

In our ministries,
in our creative communication,
we wrestle with words and ideas,
with music and lyrics,
with paint and canvas,
with materials, technologies, and more.

But let’s face it:
what the world needs is not
another artist,
another book,
another song, or
another star.
Its problems are far too deep and too serious.

The world needs Jesus.
When you sing, give them Jesus.
When you write, give them Jesus.
When you speak, give them Jesus.
Every day,
through everything you create,
in every encounter with another human being,
give them Jesus.

Invest in Others

2013-05-09 Devotional No comments

You were called to freedom, brethren;
only do not turn your freedom into
an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another.
(Galatians 5:13, NASB)

Imagine yourself 30 or 40 years in the future,
looking back on your life.
Your work here is largely past,
and if the Lord tarries,
the world will move on.
You will soon fade from the scene.

When that day comes,
you’ll see that your part in the whole is what’s important,
not your few solo lines.
Much of what you have accomplished will be
temporary or partial.
The success of the work for which you’ve given your life
will depend on the success of others.

Think of yourself as only one part of the whole.
Pray for others and their efforts.
Encourage them.
Help them enthusiastically,
as if the success of your work depends on theirs.
For in reality, it does.
Invest yourself in the lives of others.

Dream Greater Dreams

2013-05-07 Devotional No comments

All the believers were one in heart and mind.
No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they shared everything they had.
(Acts 4:32, NIV)

Lord, I waste so much time and energy on
my personal needs and concerns.
I lavish so much of my thought on
making myself look good and on
fulfilling my personal dreams.

Lord, raise my eyes,
raise my heart
from the “me” to the “we.”
Wean me from foolish selfishness with all its burdens.
Teach me to dream dreams for Your Body.
Catch me up in the well-being of Your people.

Spirit of Christ,
take over my mind.
Take over my heart.
Fill my hands, my words, my life
with the beautiful love of Christ.

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