As the season of Thanksgiving approaches, I trust you are
finding many things for which to thank God, both in your ministry and in your
personal life. God is so good to us and showers us with so many blessings, both
spiritual and temporal. Certainly, He is worthy of our thanks, praise, and
service.
You may have noticed that in each letter so far, I have
written this sentence: "What you do today matters for eternity." I have
included this statement deliberately, because it is hard for me to think of a
more appropriate reminder for those in God's service. Of course, the thought is
true for all Christians, but it is true in a special way for those who have
dedicated themselves to labor for eternal investment.
To some degree, this reminder serves as a challenge. If what
we do matters for eternity, then we had better make good choices, doing the
right things and evaluating our activities and efforts to be sure they have
eternal significance. We must be sober in this life, not carelessly expending
our time and energy on frivolous and valueless efforts.
My intent in sharing the reminder, however, is not so much to
challenge as to encourage. Life and ministry are filled with many tasks, some
of them repetitive and time-consuming; sometimes the big picture gets lost in
the tangle of routine life. God has called you to a life with an eternal focus,
and all the details required for living that life contribute to that
eternally-focused ministry. Therefore, those tasks do matter.
For example, cleaning the church building may seem a
drudgery, maybe even a waste of your talents and a drain on your energy that
could be devoted elsewhere. But cleaning the church is necessary for the
effective functioning of the church. Many other routine tasks could fall into
this same category. I'll let you enumerate the specifics in your situation.
While it is natural to think that you could accomplish more valuable types of
ministry if you did not have to spend so much time doing these mundane things, your
practical service is also important.
If God provides others to do some of those routine tasks,
wonderful. If not, I hope you will remember as you do them that they do matter.
I think of the early church in Acts 6:1-6. It wasn't expedient for the apostles
to leave off teaching the Word in order to wait on tables, but waiting on
tables and thereby meeting the needs of the church members was an important
task also. Someone had to do it. Perhaps that someone is you, and perhaps your
carrying some of those responsibilities frees your husband or your co-workers
to carry out some of the ministry aspects of the church.
My consideration of this statement about eternal value in
daily tasks also takes into account your service to your family. Women who work
a job outside the home often despair at the challenge of juggling everything;
even for those who devote themselves to the home, the tasks are never finished.
Laundry is unending, meal preparation is constant, and caring for the children
is incessant. In a foreign country, those tasks can be even more
time-consuming, depending on the culture and available conveniences. I can
imagine the challenge of trying to add ministry responsibilities to an already
full schedule. "If only my home responsibilities didn't require so much of
my time," I can hear the sigh.
This aspect is also an important part of your calling and has
tremendous impact on the work of God in your location. In impacting your
surroundings with the gospel, the proper and harmonious functioning of your
family is critical. What you do in your family matters. I illustrate this with
two common sayings. While secular sayings often conflict with biblical
principles, I think these two have some agreement with Scripture and therefore
some valuable insight.
The first is "Behind every good man is a good woman."
While the world might use this to exalt the role of the woman as superior to
that of her husband, the Bible teaches that a good wife is extremely valuable.
God's purpose from the very beginning was to provide a helper meet (suitable)
for the man. Proverbs 31 describes the benefit and blessing of a wife to her
husband. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 shares some poignantly powerful verses about how two
are better than one, as they have reward for their labor, and as one can lift
up the other who has fallen.
The second saying is "The hand that rocks the cradle
rules the world." This recognizes the enormous impact that a mother has on
her children in training them. As they go on to live their lives in arenas the
mother never experienced, her influence expands greatly as the children reflect
the mother's training. Deuteronomy 6 shares the importance of biblical training
in the home, and the Bible shares examples in Jochebed (Moses), Hannah
(Samuel), and Lois and Eunice (Timothy). Your children can become your most
faithful and active co-workers, and they can also become the next generation of
missionaries in an age when the missionary supply seems to be dwindling. These
results come through your love, training, and nourishing.
Your work with your family matters. It provides an intrigue
for the unsaved and an example for your church families. It gives needed
support and encouragement for your husband and critical training and nurturing
of your children. Yes, there are some days when the most important interactions
you have with respect to ministry will happen within the walls of your own home.
Wherever your energies are needed today - in your home or in your church - in
the mundane or in the spiritual - know that your labor matters.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holtmember at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
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