Ministry

I have been doing some soul searching over the last two weeks. The point? What am I doing in regards to the ministry I believe God has given me?

I make note of the fact "I believe". I think we can believe a great many things about God that He never said, or that He never did.

To wit: At one time, I had a great belief that I was meant to go into the ministry. At that time, I belonged to a denomination that had a series of interviews that one advanced through, including a psychological exam, to demonstrate fitness. Over a 6 year process, at the end, it was found that based on my psychological test, I was not within the "butterfly pattern" of the traditional pastor

(An amusing sidebar to this story is, of course, that based on their beliefs today, I would never have been happy in that denomination...)

The odd thing is, when I look back, I don't know when I felt "called", although I know a number of people that said "you should". The other thing is that at that time, if I felt called, I certainly did not live like it, and in fact did my best not to do so.

It hit me about two weeks ago that rather than continue to carry around this dream? ambition? that is seemingly beyond my ability to do anything - lets be honest, I'm not going to drop out work now to go to seminary - what are the ministries that I am involved in or can do right now?

Music, for one. I sing on the worship team weekly and have a bit of musical ability - but when was the last time I worked on developing it? Writing like this as well - maybe never a book, but as Am Polleanach has said, who knows who reads this? Teaching - when was the last time I lead my family in a Bible time, or prayed with my wife (there's a scary one!), or used the opportunity of my small but faithful faith group?

My point is that God has given us all an area of ministry, maybe not the one we thought or initially wanted, but the one that is best for His glory and our purposes. I also had to remind myself this week (repeatedly) that we are His creation, His tools: if He puts one up on a shelf to grab another more fit for the purpose, it is no business of ours. We, as tools of the Master, are here to glorify Him, not our own toolness. We celebrate the master craftsman or artist who uses tools to create, not the tools themselves for being used.

Unfortunately, unlike tools, we are far more prone to taking the credit due the Craftsman...