How to Sandwich God Into Your Busy Schedule Part Four: Who Has Time to Volunteer

How to Sandwich God Into Your Busy Schedule
Part Four: Who Has Time to Volunteer
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

There are different Kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6
You are a child of God, the beloved child of the King of the universe. As a child of the King you have certain obligations and responsibilities whether you like them or not, and mostly we tend to not like chores.

The world has made obligation and responsibility into dirty words to be ignored. But all actions have consequences. Doing what you shouldn’t do, and not doing what you should carries a price. Satan will tell you that you can only be free if you ignore your responsibilities. Be foot loose and fancy free… But if you do not make your car payments they will come and take your car away.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21
The gift of salvation is free. Which is a good thing because there is nothing that we can possibly do that would be good enough to earn it. However, having received the free gift of salvation and having been adopted into the kingdom of heaven we are obligated to the father to do our chores.

So now that you have your priorities straight, God first, and your are listening to Him, pondering the Bible, and you are talking to him on a regular basis in prayer, you are well on your way to the Love God part of your obligations. That’s a good start. Priorities: Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33. Ponder: I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalms 119:11 Prayer: Pray continually. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Those are commands.

As you ponder the Bible start keeping a list of Chores, commandments. There are quite a few beyond the big 10 and most of them have to do with how we deal with other people.

Over and above your chores, you have a mission. God has a plan for you, and a mission that He wants you do accomplish. You are in God’s army. You wear the armor of God. You have a mission and your marching orders. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8

Now God has not called all of us to sell everything that we own and head off into some foreign mission field. He has not called all of us to drop everything and open a soup kitchen to feed the poor. But He has called all of us to pay attention to the opportunities that He places in front of us, wherever we are.

Wherever you are – THAT is your mission field. Notice that the great commission starts at home and then broadens out to include the whole world. If you live in the United States think of the great commission in this way:

Jerusalem: Your city
Judea: Your state
Samaria: Your country
The World: Everywhere else.

There are many different kinds of service, foreign missions is just one of them. Lydia was a purple seller. She was a successful merchant. God blessed her with a really good income. She had a house and she had servants. And she knew that these blessings were not hers to squander, to use up with nothing left over for anyone else. She earned the money, yes, but her ability to earn money was a God given talent, a gift of the spirit. She was called to earn money and then use that money for the purposes facilitating the plans of God.

Some are called to be missionaries and if this is your calling do not hesitate for this is God’s best plan for your life and you will not go wrong following God’s strategy. Some are called to be teachers, some are called to be preachers, and some are called to be administrators. Some are called to make money. There are some people who are given a business idea and if that business is run on Biblical principles then the business will flourish and the money, which is God’s blessing, is given to accomplish God’s purposes. So it is entirely possible that being an entrepreneur is what God has called you to be. Making money isn’t a sin. It is the love of money that gets us in trouble.

Maybe you are not the store owner, but a worker bee in the store, even if the store you work in is not run on Biblical principles, you should still live according to those principles. You don’t have to carry a Bible around to spread the gospel. But you do have to be in the word, and operating on Biblical principles.

Finally remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 25 about dividing the sheep from the goats. He talked about being hungry, and thirsty and a stranger and in need of clothes and sick and in prison. “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40 

Whatever you did… The world is hungry for the word of God, thirsty for the water of life, strangers separated from God, naked without the robe of salvation, sick from the consequences of sin and imprisoned by sin. Whatever you can do to change these horrible conditions for even one of these lost and lonely souls you will do for Christ.

You are on your way to heaven; don’t you want to bring a few other people with you?

Simple – Ain’t – Easy
But it sure is worth the effort
- Wendy