Growth

Opened Doors?

God works in mysterious ways.

It’s a phrase that we say often, but sometimes we’re still surprised at the way God chooses to work.

Look at David, for instance. He desired a good thing – for a temple to be built in which to worship the Lord. However, we learned from Scripture that God said that while He would grant that desire it wouldn’t be through the way that David expected. We learn in 2 Chronicles 6:8b-9 that God said to David:

“Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 9Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.”

In other words, David’s hearts desire would be granted – there would be a temple built. However, David wouldn’t be the one to build it. Instead his son would have that privilege.

In a similar way, God may grant a desire that we have in our hearts, but He may use another person in order to accomplish it. We may be praying for someone to come to repentance and faith, yet it’s another person who gets to the privilege of seeing that come to be. We may be praying for a ministry opportunity, and when the opportunity comes, someone else is given the privilege of leading it. We may be asking God for good things, that He graciously provides, but not in the way that we anticipated. He may open the doors, only His desire is that somebody else walks through them.

Which begs the question – are we still thankful when God provides these things even when we aren’t the ones that get to participate in them? Do we rejoice that He is working in the areas that we care about, even if we aren’t the ones He uses to accomplish His purposes? We should be. Because if what we truly care about is His name and His kingdom, it won’t matter who He uses; it will matter that His will is being done.

Through whatever means He chooses.

 

Now it’s your turn….Have you ever seen God use someone else to accomplish what you’ve been praying for? Why is it so hard to respond with gratitude even though our prayers have been answered?

 

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Purpose

Here to Serve

Since I live in Southern California, I get the opportunity to go to Disneyland frequently. Although there is assuredly much to be criticized about “The Happiest Place on Earth” one thing that they do exceptionally well is train their employees. The people who work there, Disney calls them “cast members,” are steeped into the Disney way of doing things. They are focused on creating a “magical” experience for their guests. For all the times I have been there, I can’t think of a single instance where a cast member was rude to me. It doesn’t matter if I’ve interrupted what they’re doing or even if there are many other people clamoring for their attention, they always stop to provide the requested help. Seemingly their focus in on making sure that my day at Disneyland is a good one.

Disney isn’t the only company with this intense preoccupation with service. Many other companies such as Nordstrom &  Apple are not content with simply selling customers a product.  They are fanatical about serving their customers with excellence. As a result many of these companies are among the most celebrated today. As a recent quote I saw on Twitter and attributed to Blake Nordstrom said, “”For 62 yrs, all we sold were shoes. Being on your knees fitting shoes teaches you servant leadership.” If you serve people well in humble, and sometimes humility ways, you’re bound to serve them well in all other ways too.

I was reminded of all this when recently, I thanked a young man at our church for filling in at the last minute, and he aptly replied “Here to serve.”  It was a poignant reminder of what our mindset as Christians should be. Just like the employees at Disneyland, Apple and Nordstrom view it as their job to provide exceptional service to those they encounter, so should our objective be as Christians. The only reason we remain on this Earth is to serve our Father here – and to do so by serving those that He created. Our focus then shouldn’t be on protecting our interests or staking or claim, just like the Disney cast members aren’t focused on simply getting their task done. Instead, we should have fanatical preoccupation with serving others. We should view our job as being “here to serve.”

This means that when we’re called to pinch hit, we don’t see it as an inconvenience but an opportunity. It means that we don’t look for a reason why we have to do something, but we proactively search for creative ways that we can improve somebody else’s day.  We’re doing our “job” when we’re serving someone else.  It is the reason why we’re here. It’s what we’ve been tasked to do.

After all, it’s what our Master was about and it’s our goal to live lives more like His.

 

Who is someone that you know that is “here to serve?” How do they demonstrate this commitment?

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