Living every moment for God

 

Life on the World Race is never consistent or reliable, plans are made, then changed, then changed again. Ministries are set up and then switched up and moved around and before you know it the weeks ahead look completely different then what you first imagined. With such a schedule it’s easy to label days as ‘ministry’ days and ‘off’ days.

Ministry days are easy enough to define – days when we do some sort of scheduled ministry whether it be at an orphanage, church, hospital or somewhere else altogether. Off days can be any number of things – travel days, days spent figuring out plans and finalizing ministries, or actual scheduled days off. However, as my mother wisely stated in an email…..

 

Ministry is who you are, not what you
do.  Ministry is not something
just for reaching out to the lost. Was Jesus not ministering when he
walked and talked and ate fish with the disciples?  I think so.  You
minister to God in your quiet times. I minister to Dad and Cayden and
Carl when I cook or say a kind word.  You are God’s will, so every step
you take you take in Him. Every breath you breathe is a gift from Him
returned to Him. Be careful that you don’t make ministry “His time” and
feel the rest of the time is yours.  It is all His, every thought, word
or deed, alone or with others.  May all we in private and in public
reflect His glory.

There are plenty of days when I don’t feel like ministering, when I don’t want to let it be a ‘ministry’ day. I think one of my main problems is my definition of ministry. I tend to think it has to be something planned where I go somewhere specifically and spend a set amount of time with a set person or persons. But when we look at the definition of ministry – the spiritual work or service of any Christian or a group of Christians – it doesn’t say anything it about it being only planned. If we allow God a little leeway in our lives ministry can easily happen every moment of everyday, all we have to do is obey God’s promptings. For me, this means not viewing the times when we’re traveling for hours on a bus or plane as ‘Shanda’ time and doing with it as I please. But instead I should take the time to stop and think “Hmmmm, maybe God gave me this time to reach out to someone, I wonder who that someone is?”. Everyday people are placed in my life, maybe it’s an old man in the
park, or a kid on the street, or maybe a even tour guide, each and
everyone of these people could be a ministry moment waiting to happen. 

  

  

 

For you, giving God your every minute may look entirely different. Either way, a good example for all of us to follow is Jesus. By examining His time on earth and how He dealt with ministry and off days we can gain a bit more insight into how to live our lives. It appears that Jesus didn’t have off days, every moment was lived for the Father. In Matthew 13:1-3, Jesus goes out to sit by a lake, and while I can’t really speak for Jesus, when I go to sit by a lake it’s to relax, to take in the beauty that surrounds me and to enjoy the peaceful solitude. However, as Jesus sits down a large crowd gathers around Him forcing Him to take a seat in a boat, not quite the peaceful solitude He was going for. Yet, instead of complaining about His lack of alone time Jesus is obedient to God and proceeds to share parables and truth with the eager crowd. We see this numerous other times in Matthew. When Jesus withdraws to a private place the crowds always follow and each time He has compassion on them. Never once did He begin to whine and say “Go away, this is my time, I don’t want to be surrounded by hundreds of people, just leave me alone!”.

Jesus lived each and every day for God, looking for ways to glorify Him and further the kingdom. As my mom so wisely stated “Was Jesus not ministering when he
walked and talked and ate fish with the disciples?” and in addition, He even sacrificed his alone time in order to obey God’s promptings. We should do the same, we should see everyday as an opportunity from God, an opportunity to reach out to a stranger, to bless someone in need, to pray for those who don’t know how to pray for themselves, to teach those who are living without the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. I challenge you and I challenge myself to stop viewing our days in terms of God time and me time, but in every moment we need to choose Him, choose to glorify God and to share His love with those around us.

 

As a closing note, I want to make it clear that God knows we are human beings and as humans we do need time to rest and time to be alone. God’s will is not for us to run ourselves ragged, but instead He wants us to look to Him each and every moment, finding our rest in Him when we need it and  seeing it as a time to regain energy so that we can continue the calling He has given us.