Tuesday, July 19, 2022 Some material taken from Everyday Ministers
For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Matthew 25:35-36
Whose Responsibility Is It?
Sometimes real ministry is not convenient, and we want everything in our lives to be convenient. We can even justify not doing something God is leading us to do by telling ourselves that it is not our responsibility.
If we pray for eyes to see, how can we turn away? God will put people with needs in our path. It may be physical needs, spiritual needs and/or emotional needs. If we walk on by because we feel like it is not our responsibility, we miss the blessing. God may send someone else to help them, but we will have missed an opportunity for growth that He wanted us to have – because it is our responsibility. If God puts it in our path we need to seriously evaluate how He would want us to respond.
The opportunities for ministry are discovered in the everyday places of our lives.
They are right under our noses, in our own homes, in our neighborhoods, in the workplace, on the bus, in the grocery store, etc. They are there and if we have eyes to see, we will see them.
Not only are there opportunities for ministry in our daily lives, but there are disasters happening all around us where we can minister to people. Whose responsibility is it? When we see disasters, we can be the people helping to pick up the pieces and cleanup. We can minister and show God’s love to hurting people in a very tragic time.
Ministry – real ministry – is not glamourous. We won’t find real ministry on a big stage with bright lights. You can reach people that way, but real ministry happens in the trenches. It happens in the streets, in the food banks and homeless shelters, as well as in the everyday grind of our own lives. While we wait for someone to call us to some specific service, it is possible we walk by the very ones God has placed in our lives for our care. Is it your children? Is it your spouse? Is it the man you pass on the corner everyday on your way to work?
There is some level of responsibility that each one of us has
for every other person on this earth.
Jesus’ love was the same for everyone and His compassion soared when He encountered the needy. He spent time with the sinners and the outcasts, the poor and the hungry. He gave us an example with His very life of how we are to love and minister to others. Every one of us has the capacity to minister to someone in need.
What or who has God placed in your path? Where is He calling you to minister? Do you need to get the spiritual needs in your home and in your heart taken care of so you are ready to minister in whatever way He leads? Pray for Jesus vision to see those around you that you can reach out to with a kind word, a casserole, a prayer, or even a bottle of water. He gives us the opportunities and He speaks to us. We will hear and see if we open our hearts to be everyday ministers right where we are.
LC
