The Menial Minister

This word is for someone, including me:

We have been given an assignment... but many of us who are pursuing a "ministry career" have overlooked the assignments that have been placed before us in the *right now* season.  We have deemed them as trivial or insignificant and menial.  However, God is looking at a few things when he sets an assignment before us, no matter how trivial or menial the task may be. 

#1 Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).  Are we giving a bad attitude when a task has been set before us?  When I first knew I was called to be an evangelist, I was thrust into working with children.  Though I had done so for a long time now (my parents were children’s evangelists and still work in children’s ministry), I knew that this was not my calling.  I did not throw a fit or do a “half-baked” job.  I did it with my whole heart “as unto the Lord” and we saw kids giving their hearts to Jesus!  Then I was asked to lead worship.  When we came to the church we are serving in now, I was asked to teach in the Wednesday evening, 4’s & 5’s class.  I have preached, led worship, and am called to be an evangelist to the nations.  None of this came out of my mouth when I said yes.  I taught and had fun with about 20 - 30 kids every week who were excited to learn their verses, sing their songs and play with “Miss Mary” and “Miss Heidi” every week!  Did I stay there?  No, but almost two years later, and I had grown spiritually just as much as some of those kids grew physically!  When we say “No” to God, we don’t know the blessings and the progress we are truly saying “No” to! 

#2 If you want to be great in God’s Kingdom, you must first be a servant of all (Mark 9:35).  I have cleaned toilets, cooked meals, sat and listened to people pour out their hearts (or spew their guts), and taken on numerous tasks that others would think are menial.  BUT, God did not call us to walk around on stilts, above the people.  He called us to walk among them and serve them!  We are ministers.  The Hebrew word for “minister” (verb) means to “attend as a menial or worshipper” (Strong’s Hebrew Greek Dictionary, H8334).  We worship God by fulfilling the assignments that He calls us to do.  Whether it be to be present on a regular basis for someone, because love is spelled “T.I.M.E” or to clean, or cook, or even to teach a lesson to some kids so their parents can hear the word of God!  There is no job too menial for a servant of God!  I am not perfect and God is still working on me in many areas but this area I know to be true; if you give God everything, He will take it.  Even the smallest sacrifices are priceless to Him as the sweet smelling incense of worship is to Him.

#3 Finally, one who is faithful with little is also faithful with much, and one who is dishonest with little is also dishonest with much (Luke 16:10).  This is where I ask the hard questions.  If you are offended, you may want to ask yourself why?  Why are you in ministry?  Is it for status or personal gain?  Are you here to seek attention?  Maybe it’s for the title and paycheck?  Or, is it because there is a burning desire to see Luke 11 fulfilled when Jesus taught us to pray for God’s Kingdom to be established on earth as it is in Heaven?  Maybe you have a passion for the lost?  You might even have a heart broken by God to see Him glorified and lifted high?  So what then is one assignment in the grand scheme of things?  Even if it is a stepping stone to something greater, should it not be done with care and passion, as unto the Lord? 

I know it feels like there are so many little tasks and we begin to wonder, “When can I begin to walk in my calling?”  Hold on!  God is either building character in you, or revealing His character to you in this assignment.  When it is over you will have a deeper relationship with Him, a greater understanding of who He is, and a realization of who you are as a child of the Most High God!

Today, I want to encourage you not to run away from your assignments.  The easy ones, the challenging ones, the humbling ones, or any one that God places before you!  Remember what Paul says in Philippians 4:11-13, “¹¹ Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: ¹² I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. ¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  This applies to us in every assignment set before us.  He will give is the strength to stand up to the task and the power to complete it through His Holy Spirit!

God bless you as you seek and serve Him!