-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Accepting Your Assignment
It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping1 others. Ephesians 2:10 (LB)
I glorified2 you on earth by completing down to the last detail what you assigned me to do. John 17:4 (Msg)
You were put on earth to make a contribution.
You weren't created just to consume resources-to eat, breathe, and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life. While many best-selling books offer advice on how to `get" the most out of life, that's not the reason God made you. You were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it. God wants you to give something back. This is God's fourth purpose for your life, and it is called your "ministry4," or service. The Bible gives us the details.
You were created to serve God. The Bible says, "[God] has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do." These "good deeds" are your service. Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God and fulfilling one of your purposes. In the next two chapters you will see how God has carefully shaped you for this purpose. What God told Jeremiah is also true for you: "Before I made you in your mother's womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work." You were placed on this planet for a special assignment.
You were saved to serve God. The Bible says, "It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy
work, not because we deserved it but because that was his plan. "4 God redeemed7 you so you could do his "holy work." You're not saved by service, but you are saved for service. In God's kingdom, you have a place, a purpose, a role, and a function to fulfill5. This gives your life great significance and value.
It cost Jesus his own life to purchase your salvation8. The Bible reminds us, "God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God." We don't serve God out of guilt9 or fear or even duty, but out of joy, and deep gratitude10 for what he's done for us. We owe him our lives. Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured. In light of these incredible benefits Paul concluded, `Because of God's great mercy ... Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated11 to his service."
The apostle John taught that our loving service to others shows that we are truly saved. He said, "Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life." If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, and I'm only concerned about my needs, I should question whether Christ is really in my life. A saved heart is one that wants to serve.
Another term for serving God that's misunderstood by most people is the word ministry. When most people hear "ministry," they think of pastors12, priests, and professional clergy13, but God says every member of his family is a minister. In the Bible, the words servant and minister are synonyms14, as are service and ministry. If you are a Christian15, you are a minister, and when you're serving, you're ministering.
When Peter's sick mother-in-law was healed by Jesus, she instantly "stood up and began to serve Jesus," using her new gift of health. This is what we're to do. We are healed to help others. We are blessed to be a blessing16. We are saved to serve, not to sit around and wait for heaven.
Have you ever wondered why God doesn't just immediately take us to heaven the moment we accept his grace? Why does he leave us in a fallen world? He leaves us here to fulfill his purposes. Once you are saved, God intends to use you for his goals. God has a ministry for you in his church and a mission for you in the world.
You are called to serve God. Growing up, you may have thought that being "called" by God was something only missionaries17, pastors, nuns18, and other "full-time19" church workers experienced, but the Bible says every Christian is called to service. Your call to salvation included your call to service. They are the same. Regardless of your job or career, you are called to full-time Christian service. A "non-serving Christian" is a contradiction in terms.
The Bible says, "He saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose." Peter adds, "You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you. " Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling.
The Bible says, "Now you belong to him ... in order that we might be useful in the service of God." How much of the time are you being useful in the service of God? In some churches in China, they welcome new believers by saying "Jesus now has a new pair of eyes to see with, new ears to listen with, new hands to help with, and a new heart to love others with."
One reason why you need to be connected to a church family is to fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways. The Bible says, "All of you together are Christ's body, and each
one of you is a separate and necessary part of it." Your service is desperately20 needed in the Body of Christ-just ask any local church. Each of us has a role to play, and every role is important. There is no small service to God; it all matters.
Likewise, there are no insignificant21 ministries22 in the church. Some are visible and some are behind the scenes, but all are valuable. Small or hidden ministries often make the biggest difference. In my home, the most important light is not the large chandelier in our dining room but the little night light that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up at night. There is no correlation23 between size and significance. Every ministry matters because we are all dependent on each other to function.
What happens when one part of your body fails to function? You get sick. The rest of your body suffers. Imagine if your liver decided24 to start living for itself: "I'm tired! I don't want to serve the body anymore! I want a year off just to be fed. I've got to do what's best for me! Let some other part take over." What would happen? Your body would die. Today thousands of local churches are dying because of Christians25 who are unwilling26 to serve. They sit on the sidelines as spectators, and the Body suffers.
You are commanded to serve God. Jesus was unmistakable: "Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life." For Christians, service is not optional, something to be tacked27 onto our schedules if we can spare the time. It is the heart of the Christian life. Jesus came "to serve" and "to give"-and those two verbs should define your life on earth, too. Serving and giving sum up God's fourth purpose for your life. Mother Teresa once said, "Holy living consists in doing God's work with a smile."
Jesus taught that spiritual maturity28 is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry! We grow up in order to give out. It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what we
know and practice what we claim to believe. Impression without expression causes depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation29. The old comparison between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is still true. Galilee is a lake full of life because it takes in water but also gives it out. In contrast, nothing lives in the Dead Sea because, with no outflow, the lake has stagnated30.
The last thing many believers need today is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise their spiritual muscles.
Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination31. Most of the time we're more interested in "serve us" than service. We say, "I'm looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me," not "I'm looking for a place to serve and be a blessing." We expect others to serve us, not vice3 versa. But as we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. The mature follower32 of Jesus stops asking, "Who's going to meet my needs?" and starts asking, "Whose needs can I meet?" Do you ever ask that question?
At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God, and he is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life.
Spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. We grow up in order to give out.
The Bible says, "Each of us will have to give a personal account to God."' Think about the implications of that. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others.
At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow: "I was too busy" or "I had my own goals" or "I was preoccupied34 with working, having fun, or preparing for retirement35." To all excuses God will respond, "Sorry, wrong answer. I created, saved, and called you and commanded you to live a life of service. What part did you not understand?" The Bible warns unbelievers, "He will pour out his anger and wrath36 on those who live for themselves," but for Christians it will mean a loss of eternal rewards.
We are only fully6 alive when we're helping others. Jesus said, "If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live." This truth is so important that it is repeated five times in the Gospels. If you aren't serving, you're just existing, because life is meant for ministry. God wants you to learn to love and serve others unselfishly.
SERVICE AND SIGNIFICANCE
You are going to give your life for something. What will it be a career, a sport, a hobby, fame, wealth? None of these will have lasting37 significance. Service is the pathway to real significance. It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives. The Bible says, `Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body.”
As we serve together in God's family, our lives take on eternal importance. Paul said, "I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less ... because of what you are a part of."
God wants to use you to make a difference in his world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.
If you're not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse have you been using? Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral38, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed39, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive40 and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was
unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid. That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in his service. He will use you, too, if you stop making excuses.
Service is the pathway to real significance.
DAY TWENTY-NINE THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE
Point to Ponder: Service is not optional.
Verse to Remember: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
Question to Consider: What is holding me back from accepting God's call to serve him?
收听单词发音 |
1
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
glorified
|
|
| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
vice
|
|
| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
ministry
|
|
| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
fulfill
|
|
| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
redeemed
|
|
| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
salvation
|
|
| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
guilt
|
|
| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
dedicated
|
|
| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
pastors
|
|
| n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
clergy
|
|
| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
synonyms
|
|
| 同义词( synonym的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
blessing
|
|
| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
missionaries
|
|
| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
nuns
|
|
| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
full-time
|
|
| adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
desperately
|
|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
ministries
|
|
| （政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
correlation
|
|
| n.相互关系，相关，关连 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
Christians
|
|
| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
unwilling
|
|
| adj.不情愿的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
tacked
|
|
| 用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
maturity
|
|
| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
stagnation
|
|
| n. 停滞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
stagnated
|
|
| v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
inclination
|
|
| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
follower
|
|
| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
eternity
|
|
| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
preoccupied
|
|
| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
retirement
|
|
| n.退休，退职 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
wrath
|
|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
lasting
|
|
| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
immoral
|
|
| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
depressed
|
|
| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
impulsive
|
|
| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
购买
在百度中搜索