I have been attempting to write an article for hours now but as a wife and mom of five children, my family has a tendency to need me anytime I’m trying to have a moment of quiet and focus. Seriously, I was just interrupted again for the umpteenth time. I have been wanting to write an article about either judging, false teachers, or should Christians be positive and happy all the time? I believe these are all important topics we should consider or test in light of the Scriptures and yet, here I am, being interrupted more frequently than I can type a sentence.
So, you might be wondering what this article is about anyway. This article is about our ministry and calling as believers. I write when God has put something on my heart to share with others; it is part of my calling but not its entirety. Yes, I am called to write but I am also called to be a godly wife, mother, sister in Christ, etc. and knowing this truth helped me not get so irritated at the constant interruptions that were simply my family’s way of asking for my help, comfort, love, and familiarity from someone they love and cherish. Although in honesty, I don’t always acknowledge their interruptions as such.
As a believer, you are guaranteed to have a calling and a purpose, you have a ministry in the body of Christ and in sharing the gospel and love of Christ with the lost world, and you have a ministry in your home. Don’t forget that our walk with Christ is a day by day, moment by moment walk. If we appear to succeed in a “visible” ministry but we’re not keeping in step with the Spirit and being loving and faithful in the ordinary everyday moments with those closest to us, then we need to repent and get things back in their proper order.
Please know that having a ministry that starts in our home is not limited to parents of young children. Women who are single, married, empty nesters, and more, all have the opportunity to use their home as a tool for living out the love and truth of Christ. When our country essentially shut down because of the virus, we were blessed to be able to continue our Bible studies through online video meetings. In doing so, in a way, we were all invited into each other’s homes. As believers, it is our privilege to invite others into our home (whether literally or vicariously with the use of technology) to share the love and gospel of Christ with them. Many times, in the Scriptures we see Jesus sharing the gospel in people’s homes, why would we ever think that it’s only something we can talk about at church or on a mission trip? The gospel is meant to be lived; it is meant to be shared.
“God never intended for your salvation to be an end, but a beginning. God saved you to be a conduit through whom His glorious, life-changing gospel would flow to others.” – Robby Gallaty, Growing Up: How To Be A Disciple Maker Who Makes Disciples
About brotherly love: You don’t need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers and sisters in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone. – 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 CSB
Personally, in a world that pushes, shoves, and glorifies the big, visible, and flashy things in life I find such a powerful sense of peace and beauty in the instruction here that tells us, “to seek to lead a quiet life,”. Do you find that statement as freeing as I do? Oh, how I love it.
“About brotherly love: you… are taught by God to love one another. In fact, you are doing this… But we encourage you… to do this even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.” – from 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
I love the beautiful simplicity of these instructions:
We should work diligently to love one another, especially towards our family in the body of Christ, as God teaches us how to do so (in an ever-increasing measure). We should seek to lead a quiet life. We should work and serve humbly with our own hands so that we will behave properly in the presence of unbelievers and not be dependent on anyone.
My hope is that if you have been struggling with the feeling that your current ministry in life appears to be insignificant or quiet, that these verses from 1 Thessalonians above, and Psalms 138 and Luke 16 below will help give you His peace and godly conviction to live it well.
Yahweh will fulfill his purpose for me. Yahweh, your faithful love endures forever; do not abandon the work of your hands. Psalm 138:8 CSB
Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. – Luke 16:10 CSB
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