The Word:
Read: Psalm 121:1-5, Hebrews 7:23-27
"On Call for Christ" by Randolph Koch
In the depths of despair, or in wonderful times of joy, He is there for us. If we need to praise Him or are in dire need of prayer, He is there. He is there for us 24 hours a day 7 days a week and then some in the scope of eternity. The scriptures teach us that He never sleeps or slumbers and that He's always interceding to the Father for us. He's always "on the job" so to speak. He is so faithful to His children, and models for us characteristics that we need to develop in our own lives. His faithfulness alone should speak volumes to us.
Knowing that Jesus is available to us all the time, I would expect that He'd want us to do our best to be available to Him all of the time. Lets take this one step further by saying that I'd suspect that He'd want us as believers to be available for each other as we live out our faith 24 hours a day. Think about it for a moment, your doctor is usually on call 24 hours a day or some one from their office is 24 hours a day. Police, Fire and Paramedic personnel are basically on call 24 hours a day. Cab drivers, some grocery and convenience stores are open 24 hours a day. Aren't we Christians 24 hours a day? I know we need sleep and have to be careful how much we can realistically do because of our jobs, but shouldn't we be "on call" for each other 24 hours a day as needs arise? What if you needed serious prayer in the middle of the night? Wouldn't it be great to be able to call on a faithful Christian Brother or Sister or your pastor that would take the time out of their schedule to pray as time allowed? Yes, I know, that seems counter-culture because society stresses selfishness rather than selflessness. I just wonder though if we could all incorporate this in our own lives, to become more available to minister to the needs of others. And yes, we know that we ultimately have God with us in every situation but He desires that we be there for each other. God has called us all to be ministers and minister to others through sharing the Gospel and practical Christian love and community care. Reach out to others around you; don't be afraid to do so.
Yes, take refuge my friend in our faithful Savior who is always on call for us! May each of us in return be on call for Christ to serve Him faithfully reaching out with His love, ministering to and meeting the needs of those who don't know Him yet, and to our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.
Questions To Get Started With:
-What does it really mean to follow Jesus Christ?
-Is the Lord always available to us?
-Are you available to Him?
-Through His example, do you personally see the importance of being available and ministering to others?
-What changes do you need to make in order to be more available?
The thoughts you share hear are remarkably similar to those that inspired my friend Liviu in the aftermath of September 11, 2003. He was reflecting on the paramedics who were "on call" in the wake of the disaster, and felt led to name our fledgling mission team "On Call for Christ".
ReplyDeleteGod has blessed our team with continued opportunities to serve Him in Harsova, Romania, and on Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. We also hope to send a team to the Philippines this summer.
I have grown so much through the encouragement and example of the dedicated team members, who truly are On Call for Christ and one another. I am happy to see that you share that vision. I would like to post a link to this from our team blog. If you are interested, you can visit our website at oncallforchrist.org.