Nipped Heels

"Through suffering we become powerless so that we might reach the powerless.  We like to serve from the power position.  We'd rather be healthy, wealthy and wise as we minister to the sick, poor and ignorant.  When those preaching God's Word have little familiarity with suffering, the credibility gap makes it difficult for them to speak into others' lives.  But our suffering levels the playing field." pg. 436 If God Is Good....Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil."

Many times throughout my life I have wondered what my life would have been like had I been born elsewhere.  If I had been born in India, for instance, what would I be doing at this moment in time?  Would I know Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord?  Would I have even heard of Him?  Would anyone have cared enough to tell me and, if they did, would I have listened?  Would I worship all living creatures, thinking I would possibly one day become one of them?  As ridiculous as that sounds to the Christian, it just as easily could have been one of us.  We should know all too well that, "But for the grace of God, there go I."   Joking about something like this is easier than allowing the hurt of caring enough to go tell them the Gospel mess with our lives.
I am not saying that everyone is called to go to a foreign land to administer the Gospel, but I do wonder how many have been called, but turned their backs in fear or in the name of common sense.  Not only that, but how many other things has God laid on our hearts to do of which we have wheedled our way out?  On the other hand, how many things has He NOT wanted us to do that we have forced our way into in the name of duty, honor, and pride?  I shudder to think.

When I was a youth in the midst of my teen years, I was asked these questions: "What is your first thought in the morning when you waken most mornings?  Do you think about what you will wear, or eat, or where you will be going and doing?  Or do you wonder what God has in store for you and go to Him in prayer and Bible study?  Odds are, the first thing on your mind is the most important thing to you in life at that given moment."

Those questions have plagued me ever since.  When I wake up with a song of praise going through my mind, I offer a prayer of thanksgiving and go into Bible study.  There are days though when I am consumed with pressures I have allowed to get under my skin.  On those mornings I waken with an urgency to get moving and get things accomplished so I can get back to what is normal.  I contend that on those mornings I am being lied to.  Reason being, if I listen to the urgency, I go into the kitchen and start preparing for the day.  The still small voice I hear reminding me gently to pray and study is told that I will get to it in a little while.  Most of those times I end up scurrying to get in my Bible time when I go to bed that night, or I may even forget until the next morning. 

I am not called at this time in my life to go out into a foreign field, but I am called to minister where I am, and this is what every Christian, like it or not, is called to do.  We are not to allow fear, reasoning, self-pity, personal suffering, time constraints, or anything else of this world get in our way of ministering to those who have been assigned to us. 

This book (named in the first paragraph) has stepped on my toes time and again.  I will have to read it again and again to keep them sore as a reminder of Whose I am.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.  I Corinthians 6:19-20

God will not force me to do or be anything, but my love for Him should constrain me to be all that He desires.  So the next question that is set before me by me is this: How much do I love Him? 

I praise God that He is my Great Shepherd and keeps the sheep dog of His Word nipping at my heels to keep me safe and where I need to be in order to serve Him best.