Category: Serving Others

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Serving Others

Serving God Can Be Uncomfortable. But That May Be On Purpose.

Sometimes God puts us in uncomfortable places to serve Him.

Paul went to Jerusalem knowing that he would be arrested. And yet he went anyway. From all indications, prison is uncomfortable.photo of prison bars remind us prison is uncomfortable

While in prison, Paul got the chance to speak to Felix, the Governor. The Bible tells us that Felix was hoping to get money from Paul, so he spoke to him often. So why didn’t Paul just go ahead and bribe Felix to get out of prison?

Alistair Begg mentions:

Certainly Paul would have known that the hints dropped by Felix would allow him to get out of prison. Certainly he could have asked for his supporters to give finances to help him get out of prison. What reason would Paul remain in prison when he could have bribed his way out?

Well, before I share with you Begg’s answer, I would venture to say that one reason could be that Paul knew that providing a bribe was not following the law and was not God-honoring. I hope that as we think about our own lives, that we strive to honor God by obedience to the law. According to the Bible, we are to obey the law until the law puts us in conflict with God’s commands. There are plenty of ways people try to “get around” the law even though it is not in conflict with God’s Word. Let’s make sure we don’t fall into that trap of damaging our witness by taking shortcuts or using deception to “get around” the law.

But I also really like Begg’s answer:

Since Paul had an opportunity to share the gospel with people who he would not otherwise be able to interact with, he remained in prison and remained able to attempt to influence Felix and those in the court.

Paul trusts that God has him exactly where he is supposed to be. He could have thought, “I can be more effective outside of this prison.” But he doesn’t seek for that release knowing that God has him in exactly the right spot. So instead of worrying about where he is, he sees his current location and situation as an opportunity.chalkboard with crisis crossed out since uncomfortable situations can be opportunities

I don’t know where God will place you today, but I do believe that He has you there for a reason. It may be (like Paul with Felix) that there is someone that will be there with you that is not open to hearing about God from anyone else but you. So don’t work so hard to get out of an uncomfortable place, if that’s where you find yourself. Instead, try to see it as a special opportunity to share with those God has placed around you. He placed you right where you are “for such a time as this!”

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Serving Others

Valuable Things – A Lesson Learned in the Ocean

beautiful photo of the beach - sky, surf, and sand - the location where I learned a lesson about valuable things
via My Public Domain Pictures

A few years ago I learned a great lesson about valuable things when Paige and I were at the beach with my family for vacation. On that trip, I decided to go out into the ocean. I was by myself, as the rest of the group decided to stay pool-side. For whatever reason there were not a lot of people in the water that day, maybe due to the waves being a bit too strong for most. But I decided I would take my raft and get out past where the waves were breaking to enjoy being out in the ocean. I had with me three things – my raft (valued at about $20), my cap (maybe worth $10), and my prescription sunglasses (ummm… prescription glasses cost quite a bit more than the other two items I had with me).

And as my vision is VERY BAD without my glasses, these glasses were extremely valuable to me. (To give you an idea, at my arm’s length of less than 24″, I cannot read a single word of a newspaper, other than perhaps some of the large headlines). However, I did not have any type of cord or strap around my glasses, so yes, you are correct – I shouldn’t have been wearing my glasses into the ocean, but my pride and ego said to me, “It won’t be a problem. You can handle this. You’ll be careful with them.”

(Since I’m sure that your vision is better than mine, you can already see where this is going!)

So I got out past the breaking waves being very careful with my valuable glasses. “See, I told you it would be fine to bring your only means of clear vision out here in the raging ocean. What were you ever worried about?”

fairly large waves in the ocean, like the one that knocked me down, helping to teach me a lesson on valuable things After spending about an hour out there on the large waves, I decided to head back in. Laying on the raft, I started swimming it back to shore, and made it to where it looked like I could stand up. I began to slide off of the raft to put my feet down, but just before they touched the sand, a huge wave rolled in from behind and broke at just the right time, slamming into me and knocking me off my feet into the churning surf. Instinctively, my left hand grabbed onto the raft cord to keep it from being dragged away from me and with my right hand I quickly reached out to grab… my hat.

Yep. My hat.
NOT my glasses.

When you always wear glasses, you can forget that you are wearing glasses – they are necessary and just become a part of who you are, since they are necessary for functioning. And so while I was careful when going into the ocean with them, after being in the ocean for an hour, they just became commonplace, and in my forgetfulness… I failed to grab onto the most valuable thing I had with me.

As I came up out of the surf, I looked around me and… I couldn’t see. My prescription sunglasses had been knocked off my face in water that was a little more than waist-deep in the Gulf of Mexico. (As in water that is waist deep at the lowest point between the waves). And I couldn’t see to find them. So my immediate thought was to stay in the area and keep looking – to not let my feet get moved and to look for “dark” spots on the ocean floor and see if one could possibly be my glasses. The only problem… the waves kept breaking on me and pushing me away from the spot.

I was having no luck, and I thought, well maybe the breaking surf was pushing the glasses further inland anyway, so I tried to walk to the shore in a fairly straight line – again looking for the dark spots. I found a few dark spots, but it turned out to be a piece of wood or a piece of shell or a live sand-dollar. I made it all the way to the shore. And found no glasses. I had my hat and raft – the wrong things, the less valuable things. I had grabbed onto the wrong things instead of focusing on protecting the most important thing.

Many times, we Christ-followers are a lot like I was in the ocean. We hold onto the less valuable things and forget about that which is most important. We focus on selfish things, and forget about the treasures that God has placed around us (as in, other people). We focus on exalting self (which basically does nothing for anyone other than making us feel good temporarily), when we should be focused on exalting God (which benefits everyone around us including self).

Well, I am standing on the shore, mostly blind, with my raft and my hat. The glasses have been somewhere on the bottom of the Gulf for more than 5 minutes now. They have been pushed who knows where by the continued crashing of the waves, and I have no way of knowing exactly where I was when they were knocked off my head. There is no way for me to find these glasses again, but I go ahead and pray for the impossible: “God, there is no way I can find these glasses on my own, but You know how valuable they are to me. I sure wish You would allow me to do the impossible.”

And I began to walk back out into the ocean in a straight line toward the horizon, having no idea if I am walking anywhere near where I was before, since the waves had also been moving me. I go out looking for dark spots. I don’t see a single dark spot on my way out, until I get out to the water that is just over waist deep. And there I see my first and only dark spot, so I dive under the water to investigate.

I open my eyes under the water… and there are my sunglasses!

Lightning quick, I immediately grab them, and come up out of the water with waves still breaking. But this time, I don’t put them back on my face. I hold them tightly in both hands. I no longer considered them “commonplace.” I considered them to be of the most EXTREME value at that point. I did not put them back on until I was completely out of the water.

photo of sunglasses in the sand, a reminder of my lesson on valuable thingsI experienced a miracle in that God granted my impossible request, and in doing so helped me to “see” what was of real value. He reminded me to hold on tightly to those things that He said were treasures – the people He has created. To not think of them as commonplace, but as the most important things in life.

My prayer for myself and for you is that we will see what is of great value to God – it is other people. All other things are replaceable like my raft and my hat – of very little value when compared to the thing of most value. Just like my raft and hat should have been the last things I clung to, everything else in this life besides our relationships to others should be held to loosely. We are to see this world as He sees it – with love and compassion for every other person in our path – EVERY other person in our path.

And we are to do our best to treat them as of infinite value, because they are the only things on this earth that will last for eternity. Their eternity will be in either Heaven or Hell, and we have the knowledge of how to move them out of Hell and into Heaven. Therefore, it is our calling to see them as valuable for His Kingdom.

Hold on tightly to the only things of value in this world — the people that God has placed near you — so that you can lead them to Him. And hold loosely to everything else.

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Serving Others

A Good Way To Spend and Be Spent this Christmas

“A Good Way To Spend and Be Spent this Christmas”
  by brian rushing

In my previous post, I shared a quote from J. I. Packer: “…the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor — spending and being spent — to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others — and not just their own friends — in whatever way there seems need.”

I want to share with you a way that you can “spend and be spent” this Christmas… It is something that our family has begun doing each year to change our Christmas tradition.
christmas gifts

In the past, Paige and I went to the stores throughout November and December with our list of people we had to buy gifts for. It was a long list (kind of like yours!). We scrambled to find something for everyone. But we kept realizing that it was hard to buy gifts for our family that they really needed. The reason? They already had everything they needed and more. In fact, all of our family members already have more stuff than fits in all their closets, shelves, and attics! Our houses are overflowing with “stuff.” Does this seem familiar to your experience?

So we discussed the issue and decided to experiment with a different way of gift-giving at Christmas – one that helps us to better embrace the spirit of giving at Christmas. Here’s how we do it – Each adult in the family brings $50 to pool with one another (you could set a different limit, but we landed on $50). We then take the pooled amount of money and have the children in the family look through a “Missions Catalog,” such as the Samaritan’s Purse “Help Others at Christmas” gift catalog. The children then choose how we will spend our money to help others. The children have a great time in picking out items to help other children and families around the world – baby chickens, a hive of honeybees, a fishing boat, medicine, livestock… whatever they want to choose. So instead of the kids searching through a toy catalog for gifts for themselves, they end up searching through a catalog of gifts to give to other people in real need! This leads to some great “teachable moments” as we discuss with them how missionaries use the gifts to share Christ with the families who receive the presents. After selecting the gifts we will provide, we pause to say a prayer asking God to use these gifts to bless the families that receive them and to draw those family members to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.dairy_animals

I know of others in our church family that have begun doing something similar, even giving gifts to one another in the form of donations to important ministries. I know of children who had received their Christmas money and wanted to add some of their “just received funds” into the adult “pool” of money to increase what could be purchased.

It is great to finish our celebration with our families and feel a real sense that we had helped each other better understand the real meaning of Christmas – celebrating what Christ did for us and how important it is that we share Him with others. I love the idea of “giving gifts” to one another that go to help spread God’s Word all over the world to families who need to hear of the great love of Jesus! During this Christmas season, I hope that you will continue to think of ways to help your family be “on mission” for God – spending and being spent – even if that leads to “non-traditional” ideas!

If you would like to do something similar with your family, let me give you two possible sites you can visit to find great ideas:
Samaritan’s Purse
(Search for their Holiday Gift Catalog. You can view the catalog items online or even download the catalog as a .pdf file)

International Mission Board’s Strategic Projects
(You can click on “All Projects” to see all 116 items that the different missionaries are striving to do – such as the Hope Haven Wheelchair project that I recommend!).

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Serving Others

Am I Wasting My Life At Work?

“Am I Wasting My Life At Work?”
    by brian rushing

Work can be drudgery.
Work can be difficult.
Work can be thankless.
Work can be stressful.

At times, these feelings cause many people to wonder – “Am I wasting my life by working at my current job?”

photo of an office with many cubicles - symbolizing a place where people might ask - am I wasting my life
That same question might take a different form as we think about our work in light of our Christianity, especially when we think of ministers and missionaries. Then the form of the question might become, “Am I wasting my life by not working in a church-related occupation?”

Here is a concluding quote for us to remember about our work:

“…secular work is not a waste when we make much of Christ from 8 to 5. God’s will is that his people be scattered like salt and light in all legitimate vocations. His aim is to be known, because knowing him is life and joy. He does not call us out of the world. He does not remove the need to work. He does not destroy society and culture. Through his scattered saints he spreads a passion for his supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples.

If you work like the world, you will waste your life, no matter how rich you get.

But if your work creates a web of redemptive relationships and becomes an adornment for the Gospel of the glory of Christ, your satisfaction will last forever and God will be exalted in your joy.”


I totally agree with this statement that God’s aim is for people to know Him because knowing Him is life and joy. Therefore, wherever you are, you have an opportunity to use your workplace as a platform for creating relationships where people can see Christ in you – bringing them into the life and joy of beginning a relationship with Him.

Certainly ask the questions: “God what would you have me do as an occupation?” & “God where would you have me work for you?”

But while you are waiting for the answer, do not fret, worry, or despair… Instead, use your workplace as a platform for showing others how wonderful life is when it is lived out with Jesus. Doing so could never be considered a waste!

        (Quotes in today’s post are from Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper)


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Serving Others

Making Much of God Through Your Work

“Making Much of God Through Your Work”
by brian rushing

There were several other helpful thoughts from John Piper on how we can “Make Much Of God” in our secular jobs. You can read my recent previous posts about this idea here:
     Taking Jesus All The Way To The Office
     Your Job is Your Mission Field
     Your Mission if You Choose To Accept It Is At Your Office

I didn’t want to take these next ideas and make a whole post about each one of them, but I did think that they were very helpful for me in continuing to think about how to live as a workplace pastor to my coworkers:

Work Is Good.
God is a creative, working God. His work included creating this world. He created us in His image and gave us the work of continuing to rule and shape His creation. “If you are not God, but like God—that is, if you are human— your work is to take what God has made and shape it and use it to make him look great.”

You Are Not a Beaver.
The difference between you and a beaver – “No beaver or bee or hummingbird or ant consciously relies on God.”

picture of a beaver symbolizing our work
photo from wikimedia commons; by steve from washington, dc.
A beaver does not think about God and make the conscious choice to work with excellence because God is excellent. No beaver decides for God’s sake to make a dam for another beaver and not for himself. But as a human, you have this potential, because you were created in God’s image. When God gives us work to do, he doesn’t mean for you to do it like a beaver. He means for you to do it intentionally for bringing Him glory.

“To be sure, when God sends us forth to work as his image-bearers, our ditches are to be dug straight, our pipe-fittings are not to leak, our cabinet corners should be flush, our surgical incisions should be clean, our word processing accurate and appealing, and our meals nutritious and attractive, because God is a God of order and beauty and competence. But cats are clean, and ants are industrious, and spiders produce orderly and beautiful works. And all of them are dependent on God. Therefore, the essence of our work as humans must be that it is done in conscious reliance on God’s power, and in conscious quest of God’s pattern of excellence, and in deliberate aim to reflect God’s glory.”

People See Christ Through You.
Have high standards of excellence and integrity and goodwill at your work. By doing so you remove obstacles in the way of the Gospel and call attention to the goodness and beauty of Jesus.

Your Conversations at Work Need to Change.
“Speaking the good news of Christ is part of why God put you in your job. He has woven you into the fabric of others’ lives so that you will tell them the Gospel. Without this, all our adorning behavior may lack the one thing that could make it life-giving…. The Christian’s calling includes making his or her mouth a fountain of life.” Our mouths must speak to others about Jesus. “No nice feelings about you as a good employee will save anyone.” Only by telling people that you are a good employee because of Jesus will move them toward Him- toward His grace and salvation.

Consider a Strategic Move
“For many of you the move toward missions and deeds of mercy will not be a move away from your work but with your work to another, more needy, less-reached part of the world. Christians should seriously ask not only what their vocation is, but where it should be lived out. We should not assume that teachers and carpenters and computer programmers and managers and CPAs and doctors and pilots should do their work in America. That very vocation may be better used in a country that is otherwise hard to get into, or in a place where poverty makes access to the Gospel difficult. In this way the web of relationships created by our work is not only strategic but intentional.”

Are you asking God the serious questions of:
God what occupation do you want me in?
Where do you want me to live and do my work?
How can I be a better workplace pastor to those I am working with?

        (Quotes in today’s post are from Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper)