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:iStock_000004084820Large 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?