Do the Work; Be Faithful

What has God called you to? What task does he have for you? What service does he want you to give?

God is odd. He expects different things from different people in regards to tasks or service. But he expects the exact same thing from very different people in very different circumstances, too: faithfulness.

Are you being faithful to the work God has called you to do?

One of the disadvantages of serving God in another country, is that sometimes people think our “calling” is different than their “calling.”

But, what if we were all called to the same thing? Faithfulness.

The real question is not why God asked you to do one thing and me another. The real question for both of us is Are you being faithful to what God has asked you to do?

Why does God ask Daniel to serve a pagan king and ask David to be the King? Why does God call a reluctant Jonah to go to a foreign land to preach to a “receptive” people and insist that Jeremiah keep preaching the same old thing to people who will never listen?

You can ask the “why?” but God is unlikely to answer in a way that satisfies you.

Why does God ask Mary in her youth to be the mother of Jesus and ask Sarah in her old age to bear the promised son of Abraham? Why not have an old, faithful, barren woman experienced in life carry Jesus? Why not start the nation of Israel with someone young and strong?

Why did Job have to be the one to endure such suffering to prove his faithfulness and show the sovereignty of God? Why not someone else? Why did Solomon get the “life to the full” of riches and wisdom despite his personal marital failings?

Why did God ask Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles and Peter to work more within the framework of Judaism?

Why does God sometimes chose us because of our obvious giftedness in an area and sometimes chose us because our obvious “lack?”

We can keep asking. But, does it matter?

What are the questions that do matter?

Are you being faithful where God has called you to serve?

Are you saying ‘yes’ to the task, suffering, work in front of you?

Are you running from God and the job he has asked you to do, or are you being faithful despite your feelings?

Are you making excuses about your “lack” and refusing to do anything for God? You lack time, resources, ability, health, etc. so you do nothing.

Stop the excuses and DO THE WORK!

The need is the call! Where there is a need, there is a call. Do you see a need? Pray and get to work. Do you see an opportunity? Do something. Start. Small. Now.

Be faithful. Do the work. Stop comparing and asking the wrong questions about yourself and others. Seek God and look for the needs around you.

Stop letting your busyness and preoccupation with things that don’t matter come between you and the “calling” God has given you.

Admire people not because the work God has called them to is “big” or “significant” or “interesting” or “exotic” or because they are “successful!” Admire people because they are being faithful to the work God has called them to.

Who, around you, is being faithful to the task God has called them to? How can you be faithful where you are? How can you decrease distraction in your life so you can focus on the work God has set before you to do? What excuses are you making? What work can you do today?