“God does not demand of me that I accomplish great things. He does demand of me that I strive for excellence in my relationships.” —Ted W. Engstrom
It’s true. God never calls us to do great things, although He does great things in and through us. The Lord calls us to Himself. It’s out of our ongoing relationship with Him that true ministry is received and accomplished. The thing God commands of us is to walk worthy of our calling by serving with excellence. Even that requires dependence on Him.
God-sized tasks are big. They feel big because they are something only a big God can do. If you and I can accomplish the task at hand, then it’s probably not from God. In fact, anything you and I do apart from God is insignificant—motherhood, wife, disciple, etc… That’s why we often fail at our own attempt to serve God and others by our own efforts. On the other hand, anything we do by the power of God, we can label as Greatness.
I’ll never forget a certain lady I met at our Annual She Speaks conference—which is held for those who feel called to be God’s spokesperson through the written and spoken word. She was amazed at the number of others who also felt called of God. She just knew that she was going to be the next Big Name in Christian ministry. Her question to me was, “If that is true, why are there so many others who feel the same way?” Good question.
Do you remember the time Christ was preparing His disciples for His home-going? The guys were distraught and full of questions like, “Where are you going, Lord, and why can’t we come with you?”
Jesus gave us great insight into heaven that day as well His plan to go and prepare a place for each of us. But Christ also explained to His followers that He was limited on Earth. By Himself, He could only reach a few, buy by the Holy Spirit living in each of us He could reach more! Therefore, it was good for Him to go.
There is a great big world out there. It takes many workers. God needs all of us to fulfill His Great Commission. That, my friend, is a God-sized task. It feels big because it is big and requires dependence on God.
You see, we are all running in the same race striving for the same goal—to build God’s kingdom. The winner is the one who keeps her eyes on Christ. I have my personal race to run and you have yours. They will not look alike. But if I’m tempted to look at your race and compare it to mine, then I will eventually trip and fall. If I keep my eyes on the goal, then God will be able to accomplish His purposes through me.
The call of God is BIG! Accomplishing it involves maintaining our relationship with God so we’ll know where and when to run. It takes dependence on Him to do what only He can do. It takes commitment to work WITH God not FOR God with excellence. If we forget these things, we begin doing great things for ourselves rather than the Kingdom of God. Tom Holladay agrees.
He wrote, “There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to do great things for God — and accomplishing great things for him. The problem is that it’s just too easy to start doing the great things for yourself and not for him. It can happen in the blink of an eye. Service is then replaced with selfishness. We all struggle with selfishness, so how do we protect ourselves from letting our ego take center stage? That’s where the priority of relationships comes in! A healthy relationship with God and healthy relationships with others have the power to keep our commitments to the things and the tasks in our lives from getting out of balance.”
It’s simple. True ministry is birthed out of our relationship with God. It’s where we are called, kept, and maintain a heavenly perspective. When He is our vision, success is always certain.
Renee Swope says
Micca, this ministry calling posts are SO GOOD! Thanks for writing them. I sure do hope you put them in a book one day. I know they are blessing so many!!!!! You’re such a gifted writer!
How was your weekend in Hershey with MAC church? I love those gals. Did you know Hershey is where JJ grew up? Can you imagine being surrounded by all that chocolate all the time?
Renee
Angela @ Refresh My Soul Blog says
What a great post Micca. I always find great encouragement from God through you.
Much love,
Angela
Laurie says
Micca – Thank you for your posts on ministry. They have really touched my heart and encouraged me.
Laurie Ann says
Your posts have definitely stirred my heart on this topic. Thank you so much!
Christine Satterfield says
great post! we miss seeing you guys… hope you are doing well!