By Allen White
His intent was that
now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the
rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, Ephesians 3:10 (NIV)
One of the more embarrassing moments of my life occurred on
the morning of my interview for ministerial credentials about 25 years ago. I
was awakened by a phone call. It was our church secretary wondering where I
was. My interview was scheduled for two hours earlier. Panic.
Going to bed the night before, I was nervous about the
interview and had a very sleepless night. I finally did get to sleep, but I
didn’t hear the alarm in the morning.
When I finally arrived at the interview with hat in hand, I
profusely apologized for my mistake. All the while I imagined years of
theological training evaporating away. They were gracious. We had a good laugh.
Weeks later when official word came, the committee had turned
me down. They didn’t feel that I had had enough ministry experience (read
“preaching”) at that point, so they put me off. Obviously, I did the hard work
to gain the qualifications and was ordained a couple of years later.
For most of you reading this, you will never have to sit
through a stressful interview of your qualifications for ministry. You can thank
God for that. But, on the other hand, it’s not always easy to recognize your
gifts or discern your ministry calling by yourself. Self-examination is a
challenge. You have trouble seeing yourself objectively because it’s too
personal. It’s too close. This is where the church comes in.
Your fellow believers help you recognize what God has gifted
and called you to do. Things that come very naturally to you may in fact be the
result of your unique giftedness.
As the Body of Christ, we owe it to each other to point out
where we excel and notice the fruit that God is producing in each other’s
lives. We’re not all good at everything. But, we’re all good at something. As
Bil Cornelius says, “Give your attention to the areas in your life that bear
the most fruit.” If you’re not sure what those areas are, why not ask a member
of your small group or take the Developing Yourself to Serve class?
Often it takes other believers to help us hear clearly from
God. While we should always depend on the Bible as the first source of
clarification, God uses mature believers as additional confirmation.
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More from Allen White: allenwhite.org
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