Monday, February 07, 2011

What God Gives, Part Three

These lessons apply not just in Sunday school but in everything.

Because honestly I find it hard to be excited about a lot of things.  The days and weeks can be drudgery.  Repetitive.  Nothing new.  Except new piles of laundry.  I wonder if I am wasting my life.  Or if there are better things I could be doing.

Normally, I have a different attitude about being a mom.  I am passionate about it and want to do a good job.  It’s just that I get tired. 

I have a semi-willing heart.  What if I pray for God to give me passion and equip me to be a mom, a wife and a Sunday school teacher that can do His work?  It seems like I’m always being asked to do lowly things.  Homemaking, Sunday school, working in the nursery, helping the elderly and mothering kind of feels like the pits.  Maybe going to your job day in and day out is sucking the life out of you.  It just seems like there must be something bigger and more exciting out there. 

But there is joy in doing what God has called us to.  He can use us right where we are at.  And if you are committed to teaching Sunday school or already have kids:  God has called you to those posts.  Just like Judy and Leona who have faithfully taught Sunday school over the years.  Or all the moms who have been faithful to serve the needs of their families.  The pathway to joy and greatness is through humility. 

Desiring God just tweeted this John Piper quote:  “To be humble is to be a servant.  They are not the same.  But humility leads to joyful readiness to do lowly service.” 

God knows that I would never choose humility.  I know it too.  I’m just so prideful.  But as He continually puts me in the position to serve, He’s growing that in me. 

If I want true joy, it won’t come from chasing my dreams or what I think will make me happy.  It will come from laying my dreams down at the foot of the cross and being willing.  Willing to get up in the night with the baby.  Willing to pack lunches in the morning.  Willing to put your own needs on the back burner for your family.  Willing to teach preschoolers one hour a week.

God gives the strength, the joy, the wisdom.  Can I provide a willing heart?

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:1-2

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  1 Peter 2:4-5

2 comments:

Peter and Nancy said...

The really gross jobs of motherhood (cleaning out under the kid's beds & finding a food item with dustballs stuck to it, stomach flu clean up, etc.) are often things that make me think, "You couldn't have PAID me to do this before I was a mother." And I'm stilll not getting paid to do them, come to think of it. :o) But you're right -- humility is a gift to me, and is a great reminder of how Christ humbled himself when he became one of us.
Nancy

Sarah Johnson said...

I can't hear this message too much! So identify with what you're saying! Thank you.