I’d like to tell you that I have my walk with Christ figured out; that every day is a picnic in the park, but that ain’t so. My everyday conversations with God go something like this:
- Lord,
- YES, SHARI.
- I’m hurt.
- I KNOW. ME TOO.
- But Lord, they’re Your people. Why do they not desire to serve you?
- IT SEEMS YOU’VE CONFUSED SERVICE WITH PARTICIPATION.
- What’s the difference?
- SERVICE SUPPLIES A NEED, PARTICIPATION IS TAKING PART IN SOMETEHING. SERVING ME SHOWS A LEVEL OF NEED, PARTICIPATION IN CHURCH IS FEELING A PART OF SOMETHING. THEY WANT TO BE A PART OF ME… BUT THEY DON’T HAVE A NEED FOR ME.
And I wept.
Such is the state of our world. They go to church just enough to feel apart, but there’s no “need.” No desire or commitment to the cause. A warm pew for 60 minutes is enough to satisfy a soul who just wants a participation award. And so the Lord left me with these words to ponder.
WHY ARE YOU USING VALUABLE TIME TO CONCERN YOUR SELF WITH THE PARTICIPANTS? JUST SERVE AND UNDERSTAND THERE ARE NO “PARTICIPATION” AWARDS IN HEAVEN. IF YOU WANT THE PRIZE OF THE HIGH CALLING, YOU MUST PRESS ON.
And so today I press on with the understanding…
- It’ll leave a mark
- I’m called to do it
- I need to stay focused (thus minded)
- Mark (acknowledge) those who serve… leave the participants to God.
Philippians 3:13-17
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.