Monday, July 12, 2010

“I Could Never Do That!”

“He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.” (2 Corinthians 3:6)


“Oh, I could never do that!”

A missionary colleague once decried how it seemed that he heard that statement or one like it over and over, and he was tired of hearing it. This particular missionary went regularly into some of the remotest regions of our world to some of the remotest unreached people of our world. He waded through leech-filled rivers and climbed high mountains to get to his people. His stories genuinely amazed people, so that nearly every time he spoke, people would come up to him later and say, “Oh, I could never do what you do.” His response became nearly automatic. He said, essentially, “Sure you can. Anybody can do what I do.”

Obviously, some folks have physical limitations that would not permit them to do what he did, but this missionary understood a basic truth that we sometimes need to be reminded of: The work of God’s kingdom is not so much dependent on our skills or competencies but on the competency give to us by the Holy Spirit. All we need to do is make ourselves available to God, trust ourselves to His will, and He will then make us competent for any task He assigns us. This is what then brings glory to God.

Lord, Indeed there is much we feel we could never do, but we also understand that if You call us to a task, You will make us competent to complete it. Amen.

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