“Work is love made visible”
“There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.”
“And he who deserves to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.” -The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
When we ask the Lord to use you as a vessel, why are we so baffled when He actually does? Being used by the Creator to serve the created is part of our natural will. We are called to be His hands and feet, we are called to love unconditionally, and we are called to give everything freely since nothing ultimately belongs to us. In Luke 10, Jesus calls us to love our neighbor and to be a Good Samaritan. I for one, have read and discussed this story about 15x at Nico Milan High School for Jesus Our Teacher Ministry. Honestly, I was getting very tired of it and was constantly wondering why the Lord had this story as a reoccurring reminder in my life.
On another note, someone who constantly reminds me of all of this is my new dear friend and brother in Christ, Lesley. One of my teammates and I have cultivated such a fruitful relationship with this man completely Jesus focused. Lesley is a simple man. He sits in the same spot everyday just thinking about God’s goodness and mercy. The Holy Spirit is constantly speaking through him, pouring our wisdom, and basically telling me exactly what I need to hear even when I don’t want to hear it. This man gives of himself freely, not that he has much to give, but he generously gives it all.
Recently I have been asking the Lord to use humbly use me as a vessel for His work. God desires transformation in us. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 ESV
He wants to transform our minds, the way we think, and the way we view the world. If we let Him take control, there will be an undeniably wonderful change in us. “”Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 ESV
And boy does he give! Shocker! God came through! He is true to His word, and He is so faithful.
On Saturday Avery and I went to the beach for worship and Jesus time. Amongst the peaceful noise and calming beauty, I got to just sit and pour my heart out to my Almighty Father. There is truly nothing greater or more fulfilling. God, what do you want for me this year? What’s next? He said He longed to fully change my heart. I said, okay, God I trust you, use me today, humble me, let me be an active vessel for your kingdom!
I stood up. Avery and I began walking home and —what do ya know—we ran into Lesley. He was sitting in his usual spot, but something was unusual in his demeanor. He was frowning and had some sort of weakness in his voice when he said hello. We sat down to ask what was wrong, an overwhelming since of compassion and empathy came over me. Lesley’s sister Amanda, who lives in Port Elizabeth, has not had anything to eat in days. Amanda is at a university, paid for by the government, but doesn’t have a job or anyone beside her brother, which is an hour away. I could tell how deeply troubled he was by this so we prayed for Amanda and gave Les some food but he refused. Lesley was so utterly burdened by this that He was fasting until his sister has eaten. God had taken captive with such unconditional love for my brother and sister in Christ, so Aves and I decided to fast also until they could eat. It’s crazy the type of bond you form when all you have in common with someone is being a follower of Christ.
As we went to the beach for our weekly sunset run, I spotted Leslie in an odd spot, He was crying and looked extremely upset. Lesley got robbed about 10 minutes before. They took the little money he had and his cellphone(the only way for him to contact his sister). They punched him and cut him with a knife. I was lost for words, I had.no idea what to say so all I could do was comfort my friend in this delicate moment. As we sat on the beach in mere silence, we just cried and prayed. I thought, God how could this happen? How is the world this messed up, to kick a man when He’s already down? Isn’t he going through enough! then the words came to mind. Be my vessel.
He calmed down to tell us all that happened. He was not concerned with his bumps and bruises, nor the money he lost or the situation itself. All he cared about was the phone, since now he couldn’t contact his sister at all. He said “all is well, God is good.” We figured out we could transfer money to Amanda through the grocery store! YaY! a solution! Our ministry host was kind enough to drive us to the store! We put in money and arranged for Lesley to call her so she could eat! Of course, He was so grateful and relieved. Amanda could eat, Lesley could eat, and we could eat.
I was so filled up, so encouraged, so purposeful! God used me just as I had asked, but sometimes He also wants to test us. First let me say that the way we grow up has an effect on the way we view the world. Our ministry host for example was only looking out for us. Later that night our hosts, Tarina and Mattys came to us asking about the nights events. Tarina suspected Leslie had been drinking. She just wanted us to know and make sure we weren’t naive or misunderstood what was going on. I love and respect my hosts. They had good intentions to look out for our well being. No matter what I was still mildly offended with a touch of bitterness. My emotions were all over the place with lots of questions and arguments in my mind. I’m so glad Aves felt the same way…. so we went away to talk and pray about it. Eventually we came to the realization that no matter what occurred, we were obedient in love.
Here are the facts: I asked God to humble me with a heart of loving compassion and He softened my heart to give freely of all i have. I wanted an opportunity to be His vessel and I became His hands and feet. I am called to be there for my brother in Christ. Even if the beaten man in the parable in Luke 10 was half-drunk, I guarantee the Good Samaritan would have still loved and cared for him.
Glory to God! He always reveals His faithfulness. When you truly seek His face, He is there every single time. Because His love is abundant, His grace is sufficient and His trust is worthy. Thank you God that I have the ability to be used by you. Wow. Isn’t our God flippin’ breath taking!!!
