Devotions

No one on earth can place you in ministry. You may be given a diploma by a seminary, ordained by a bishop or commissioned by a denomination; but the apostle Paul reveals the only source of any true call to ministry: “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry” (1 Timothy 1:12, NKJV).

What does Paul mean here when he says Jesus enabled him and counted him faithful? Think back to the apostle’s conversion. Three days after that event, Christ placed Paul in the ministry, specifically a ministry of suffering. This is the very ministry Paul refers to when he says, “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:1).

Paul is telling us Jesus gave him a promise for this ministry. Christ pledged to remain faithful to him and strengthen him through all of his trials. A transfiguration is taking place in all of our lives. The truth is that we become like the things that occupy our minds. Our character is being influenced and impacted by whatever has hold of our hearts.

I thank God for everyone who feeds his mind and soul with spiritual things. Such servants have fixed their eyes on what is pure and holy. They keep their gaze fixed on Christ, spending quality time worshipping him and building themselves up in faith. The Holy Spirit is at work in these saints, continually changing their character in the image of Christ’s. These believers will be ready for the hard, explosive sufferings to come. Slothful, lazy, prayerless believers will suffer heart failure or breakdowns. They’ll be crushed by their fears because they don’t have the Holy Spirit at work in them, transfiguring them. When the hard times come, they simply won’t make it.

Here is Paul’s final word on the matter: “We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings…. as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:3–5, 10). By shining with the hope of Christ in the midst of our sufferings, we display true riches to the world.

Contentment was a huge test in Paul’s life. After all, God said he would use him mightily: “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15, NKJV). When Paul first received this commission, “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20).

Paul was in no hurry to see everything fulfilled in his lifetime. He knew he had an ironclad promise from God, and he clung to it. For the present moment, he was content to minister wherever he was, witnessing to a jailer, a sailor or a few women on a riverbank. This man had a worldwide commission, yet he was faithful to testify one-on-one.

Nor was Paul jealous of younger men who seemed to pass him by. While they traveled the world winning Jews and Gentiles to Christ, Paul sat in prison. He had to listen to reports of great crowds being converted by men he’d battled with over the gospel of grace, yet Paul didn’t envy those men. He knew that a Christ-surrendered man knows how to abase as well as abound. “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content” (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

The world today might say to Paul, “You are at the end of your life now, but you have no savings, no investments. All you have is a change of clothes.” I know what Paul’s answer would be. He wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:18-19).

May we say with Paul, “I’ve won Christ. I’m the winner! I’ve found the pearl of great price. Jesus granted me the power to lay down everything and take it up again myself. Well, I laid it all down, and now a crown awaits me. I have only one goal in this life: to see my Jesus, face to face.”

Surrender. What does this word tell you? In literal terms, surrender means “to give up something to another person.” It also means to relinquish something granted to you. This could include your possessions, power, goals or even your life. Christians today hear much about the surrendered life, but what does it mean exactly?

Jesus lived a perfectly surrendered life: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38, NKJV) and “I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks and judges” (John 8:50). Christ never did anything on his own. He made no move and spoke no word without being instructed by the Father. “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father taught me, I speak these things…. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him” (8:28–29).

Jesus’ full surrender to the Father is an example of how we all should live. You may try to excuse yourself, saying, “Jesus was God in flesh,” but the surrendered life is not imposed on anyone, including Jesus. “Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” (John 10:17–18).

Jesus was telling us, “Make no mistake. My Father gave me the choice to pass up this cup and avoid the cross, but I chose to do it out of love and full surrender to him.”

Our heavenly Father has given all of us this same right: the privilege to choose a surrendered life. No one is forced to yield his life to God. He freely offers us a Promised Land full of milk, honey and fruit; but we may choose not to enter.

When we stand before God at the judgment, we won’t be judged by our ministries, achievements or number of converts. There will be one measure of success on that day: Were our hearts fully surrendered to God? Did we succumb to peer pressure and follow the crowd, or did we seek him alone for direction? The truth is that we can have as much of Christ as we want.

Skeptics love to come into our lives and say things like “Hey, I love your vision and passion; they’re great. But why risk it? Some people aren’t going to like it. You’ll probably get some negative feedback. You might make some people outright angry. If you offend somebody, why do what you’re called to do by God?”

Why give half your money away to the poor, if your family says, “That’s a stupid thing to do”? Why go ahead and keep doing what God’s called you to do when you might provoke the wrath of the skeptics around you?  Why?

Because you’re not called to please man. You are called to please God. We see in the Bible that “Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men’” (Acts 5:29, ESV). You’re not here to make everybody happy with your decisions. Children of God, you must be willing to make tough decisions that sometimes go against the current and are unpopular. When you make those choices, not everybody will go along with you.

Some people might say, “In this economy, you starting your own business is the most foolish thing!” If God has told you to start your own business, though, you don’t look at the economy. You don’t listen to the skeptics’ voices around you. You don’t look at anything else except Jesus and where he’s calling you.

Now in this economy I’d ask God twice, but I would say, “God, oh God, oh God, take away from me any residue of that spirit to appease man. God, rend my heart of that attitude that says, ‘I want to make sure everybody around me likes me. I want to make sure everybody pats me on the back all the time.’” It’s time that we get some spiritual gumption and say, “I don’t care what man says about me. I don’t care what the world thinks about this ridiculous faith-effort that I’m moving into because I’m going to obey God and not man.”

Fear disobedience and the disapproval of God more than you do the disapproval of man. I’m going to listen to his voice, and I want him to speak over me, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23).

The pace of our modern life is so frantic! Between work, school, church, housework, errands, homework, sports, iPad, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Netflix, etc., there isn't always a lot of time left to have great family conversations. Monday through Sunday, life runs at a hundred miles an hour, and too often we stick to superficial discussions with our family that sound like “Tidy up your room.”

Let’s reserve quality time to listen and talk with our loved ones. During all the days of our lives, let us give the gift of availability to our spouses and children. Scripture says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7, NIV).

If I had a time machine, I would go back to the days when my children were still young and intentionally have deeper conversations with them. I would talk more with them about the following:

• • The ravages of drugs and all other forms of addiction, and how God has delivered me from them and can protect them.

• • The different forms of temptation they will have to face and how God will give them strength and grace to resist.

• • The value of hard work, honesty and forgiveness.

• • The Biblical perspective I’ve learned to have on the issues they hear about every day in school from their teachers or friends.

I would take the initiative to broach sensitive topics. I would tell them more about the Kingdom of God, his plans, his grace, his fidelity. Too often, while instilling God's commandments in our children, our approach boils down to a list of guidelines and prohibitions.

After over thirty-five years of full-time pastoral ministry in which I have brought the Word thousands of times to over fifty countries around the world by the grace of God, what my children (now all grown up) remember most are not my teachings and my words as a pastor. What they remember most is the time spent together, treating each other like a gift from the Lord. Keep in mind that what your loved ones are looking for, above all else, is you.

^{Claude Houde is the lead pastor of Eglise Nouvelle Vie (New Life Church) in Montreal, Canada. Under his leadership New Life Church has grown from a handful of people to more than 3500 in a part of Canada with few successful Protestant churches.}