“If the foot should say,
‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the
body? And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not of the
body,’ is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would
be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now
God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And
if they were all one member, where would the body be?” – 1 Corinthians
12:15-19
Where has God placed you in the Body? What is it that He has purposed
for you to do? Are you able to rest in that place or do you desire more. There
are times when we find ourselves doing something that we would prefer not to do.
Lacking spiritual understanding we might think that somehow God made a
mistake. That He really doesn’t
understand what we are capable of. The truth of the matter is that He absolutely
does.
I know a man who wanted to be a deacon. He was convinced that he was supposed to be a
deacon. The problem, he had been divorced, and the church he attended interpreted
the scripture that a deacon had to be a husband of one wife meant that the man
could not be divorced and he was.
“Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children
and their own houses well.” – 1 Timothy 3:12
He attended the church faithfully.
He was respected for his heart for God and his family. But, he was disqualified from holding the
office. The solution – he left the church and wen to a church that would allow
him to be a deacon.
I knew a pastor that had been a pastor in one denomination, but divorced
his wife and that disqualified him as a pastor. So he left that denomination
and joined one that allowed him to be a pastor even though he was divorced.
We must be careful that we don’t whittle our beliefs down to fit
our circumstances. If we are a square
peg, that we don’t trim off the corners so we will fit into the “round hole”
that we desire. Both men felt justified in
their decisions and action. Sometimes, we
find ourselves disqualified from serving in one way but that does not mean we
are disqualified from serving.
“But God said to me [King David], ‘You shall not build a house
for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.’” – 1
Chronicles 28:3
David was a man after God’s own heart but was disqualified from doing
certain things. The test for all three men was what they did when they were
told they were disqualified. The first
two went their own way – tried to make what they were kept from doing – happen anyway.
David yielded to the will of God. And
that is our challenge. We may find
ourselves in a place – a place where we don’t want to be – maybe not because we
are disqualified but because God has purposed us to be there for another reason
but we are not satisfied – we want to do what we have decided is the right thing
to do. If we defy God why would we expect to please God?
“And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If
anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” –
Mark 9:35
So where does God have you right now? Or perhaps the question
might be, “Where do you have you right now?”
Don’t force your way into service or don’t dodge what God has for you. When
the Draft was in force, some men would get a draft notice and they would, as
the British say, “do a runner” They would
go to Canada or some other place. After I
was in Vietnam for 12 months, I was allowed to go on Rest and Recuperation
(R&R) for 5 days. I went to Sydney,
Australia. While there, I met some American soldiers who did not go back to Vietnam
after the 5 days. They deserted. They refused to go back to the fighting – to their
duty. I don’t know how many did that,
but I can see how easy it was to do it.
Please
pardon this digression. This was before
I was born again and I often self-medicated with alcohol. I had been drinking, a lot,
and found myself at a party with some of those deserters. Not sure how that
happened. Maybe I met them in a bar. The party was in an apartment building. Your
could hear the doors in the stairwell closing – booming when they closed. For
whatever reason, I thought it was artillery firing – cannons, and was telling
everyone to be careful because I could hear artillery.
Let me just say that I was not a hit at that party. (That memory just popped
into my head) Oh – FYI, I went back to
Vietnam after my five days were up.
The point here is that it is part of our old nature to satisfy ourselves, to go our own way, to decide what is right for us, even in the face of a greater authority.
We do it out of lust for something we want or fear that we are not capable of success, but do it we do. Let me end this with a reference to one of my
favorite verses. Something for you to
consider in light of today’s devotion.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is
your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.” – Romans 12:1-2
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