Filling the Gaps

Do you have special skills or gifts that you like to use to serve the Lord and those around you?  Maybe music is your thing, and you leap at the opportunity to join your church choir.  Perhaps you are good at woodworking and like to create things to help solve someone’s problems.  You may enjoy working in children’s ministry or teaching . . . the list could go on and on.   We typically like using our talents for good, but what if there are needs in your community that go beyond your skill-set and comfort zone?  It’s easy to sit back and just wait for someone else to take on those jobs , someone who is more qualified or better equipped, but today I would like to challenge you to step up to whatever job you fear and give it a try.

To be completely honest, I have never enjoyed working on computers.  I love paper, pens, pencils, and books I can smell and touch – not Apple or any of the new devices that do everything in the palm of your hand.  I can think of at least a hundred things I’d rather do than web design.  However, I love to write and I love to inform people about creation science, so I have been writing a blog for nearly two years and I am trying to help my local creation ministry keep up a website.  No, these are not my strengths, and no, I’m not really “qualified” to do many of the things I do, but I try my best to learn how to do whatever needs to be done.  If there were other, more qualified, people to do the job, I’d be glad to let them have it, but I have learned a lot from doing things outside my comfort zone.

Sometimes a job just needs to get done.   It takes a willing servant’s heart to step up and fill a gap that isn’t really your forte.  You must choose to humble yourself according to the task or your community may suffer from the service gap.  In our world, it’s easy to get wrapped up in ourselves and thinking that we are the ones who are doing this ministry or that service project, but if that were really the case, we would all be pretty pathetic and hopeless.  The truth is that it’s not about what we can do or give, but about how God works and gives, lovingly choosing to use us to be His messengers and servants.   It’s not about my strength or my talents, but about God’s strength and His unfathomable grace.  Is God calling you to fill a gap serving Him?  Are you willing to say “yes” to whatever work He gives you to do, or are you going to let your pride and fear of failure get in the way of letting God use you in His mighty work? Just some things to think about.