Every Need is Not a Personal Call
Recently, I wrote a guest blog for a friend’s website (www.RussMasterson.com) for a series he is doing called Lies Overheard in Church. Here is what I shared:
Lie: If you hear of a need, you are called to fill it.
As the two women walked into evening worship, one looked frazzled and exhausted – definitely not the countenance one would expect on the Sabbath. “Jessica, are you ok? Why the downcast face?” “Oh, Karen, 3 year old choir this afternoon was crazy. My ears are ringing from the decibel level of the kids’ singing and my knees hurt from sitting in the baby-bear chairs.” “Jessica, you barely liked your kids when they were three – why in the world are you doing preschool choir?” “Well, Karen, if I don’t do it, no one will.”
There are countless frazzled and exhausted Christians serving in churches who are serving only because they believe the lie that by hearing a need they are the ones who are to fill that need. Even, the great evangelist D.L. Moody believed this lie for many years. Every need is not a personal call for you or for me. Nor is it even for God… In Genesis 2, God sees that it is not good for man to be alone but instead of filling that need with Himself, God creates Eve to meet that need.
Too often we will start doing Kingdom work and then ask God to bless it. That is kind of like a private in the army making plans for the day and asking the commanding officer to make available the needed supplies. Instead, we need to listen for a personal call from the Lord and then respond in obedience with full assurance that God will provide the necessary supplies – emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually.
- Are you exhausted in the “work”?
- Do you dread doing the “work”?
- Are you drained after finishing the “work”?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, I am not saying you have missed the call of God but it would be the first place I would look. What lies do you hear at church?
Becky,
Thank you so much for sharing this. I lived this lie in my life for many years, to my regret. God finally allowed me to see that when I filled the need (when He didn’t ask me to), I was preventing someone else from being blessed. I have now learned that when I see a need, I am to pray for that need to be supplied as God leads, not automatically jumping in and sometimes denying someone else the blessing of being used by God in fulfilling that need. Thank you so much for sharing the wisdom and knowledge that God has given you.
Love and Blessings,
Denise Wood
Denise, it have definitely been there too. It was the fact that I was stealing someone else’s blessings in the midst of my misery that drove it home to me as well. May we respond and not react to the needs of those around us. Blessings! Becky