Mission Musings: Help Wanted

Monday, September 18, 2006

Help Wanted

Why is it, I wonder, when I ask certain people if they will rise up to the challenge and come and help us, they say "no." Especially when I tell them how desperate we are for consistant help from a person with Godly character. Okay, sometimes the answers are legit, but mostly, I am reminded of the following passage in the Bible:

And a certain scribe came, and said to him, 'Master, I will follow You wherever You go.'

And Jesus said to him, 'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head.'

And another of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.'

But Jesus said to him, 'Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.'

Matthew 8:19-22

Do you think Jesus was guilting people into serving Him? No way! He was merely helping them to get their priorities in order.

He was just talking about this two chapters ago:

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.Matthew 6:24

Nobody said it would be easy. Trust me when I say that it is NOT easy for those of us who serve daily on staff, or weekly as a volunteer. It's serious business!! BUT, the rewards are phenomenal.

Imagine, having direct influence on the life of a child... born right IN the Regina RESCUE Mission?! And imagine being given permission to speak into the life of a former drug addict? Of having personal influence over a former criminal, and then, seeing THEM rise up to the challenge of living for God.

I see those of us who have been born and bred into Christianity as becoming complacent in these LAST DAYS. Yes, that's the problem. The reformed addict KNOWS Jesus has saved them by the skin of their teeth and time is running out. They take their entire life and dedicate it back to Jesus. To live serve and breathe with the Saviour.

I'm just asking for a little help here.

So, if you need a place to serve, please come and help us! If you truly cannot come, then please serve in other ways: that is, by giving and praying. But please, take a closer look at your excuses before you decide.

3 Comments:

At September 18, 2006 2:35 PM , Lisa S said...: I think the spiritual discipline of servanthood has long been neglected or misused in most churches in North America.

We need to remember that it's not about our schedules, our down time, our Sunday paper or our choice of other activities. It's about Him.

The key is to be open to God's prompting, not your own ego or anothers' guilt tripping. That's how to avoid burn-out and resentment. Easier said than done, of course, but worth the attempt.
At September 18, 2006 4:49 PM , [rhymes with kerouac] said...: The work we do just isn't on people's radar - it's like they can't see it, don't know it exists. Most 'chruch' folks live in another world, another reality, and the only thing that ever crosses the great divide between their world and the Mission is money.

Or the turkey they got from their boss at Christmas.

I don't want to be too hard on "church folks", but let me know if you find an answer to the question you posed in the first line of this post. I'm at a loss, also. And you're right about the phenomenal rewards. The church (in general) has lost so much by being absent from this kind of work.
At September 19, 2006 8:23 AM , Dave said...: I give my time one evening a week to supervise at the mission. The time I give is at times hard to let go, as I work all day and I have family needs as well, but...I consider it a privilege to share my faith and time with these men and women. Tell me where you can go and expect to share you faith every time. Tell me where you can go and everything that is discussed is examined in the light of Christ's love for us and our walk with him. Yes, there is the mundane, and at times the night is a little long, but then a new Christian trying to understand more walks by with a question "Do you think animals have spirits and go to Heaven? I've been searching the scriptures......." .When is the last time you had that or any question similar asked of you at work? Choose to give you time and you will be rewarded, something like tithing you must step out in faith to recieve the blessing.James 4:17 says "Anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and does not do it sins."