Do you have to be in ministry to serve Jesus? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
I work at the campus post office here at the seminary and today, we had someone come in wanting to mail some packages who was the roofer for the seminary. He came in, a happy guy, and said he was going to first go to the cafe in the seminary and asked if we wanted anything. I told him I don’t drink coffee, so he offered a tea, to which i definitely said yes. I don’t turn down a free hot herbal tea. When he returned, he had it with him and I have it right here next to me.
The guy was extremely generous to all three of us working there and it left me thinking as I wrote it about how a few weeks ago I posted asking if you have to be in ministry to serve Jesus. Actually, C.S. Lewis said all of us somehow or other, even non-Christians, serve Jesus. Judas and John both served Jesus. One did so freely and with a good reward. One did so in opposition and with not so great a reward.
If this guy wasn’t doing the work he was doing and others like him, could we have a seminary, especially in an area prone to hurricanes? Could I have an apartment to live in here? Could we have classrooms? Not at all. His work is a service to God and it is a “secular” job.
Not only that, but the visit was a blessing to me today. It means a lot to me when people out of the blue come out and get me gifts. While it’s great to get gifts like a new Patreon subscriber or a game or a book, a simple gift like a tea from the cafe means a lot as well. I have posted how on my birthday here, I got a gift from some fellow seminarians that live in my building.
Ultimately, if you want to serve God, you just have to go from where you are and give it fully to God. We can go to Europe today and look at the cathedrals and we can think about the great Christian saints that worked in them. We can see magnificent churhes here in America and think about all the great sermons that were preached in them. Do we ever stop to think about all the architects and builders that worked on these buildings? Of course we do sometimes, but generally, that’s not what comes to mind.
None of this is also to discourage people going into the ministry, but this is mainly for people who want to serve God and think they’re not doing it in a non-ministry setting. You definitely can serve God no matter where you are at. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 10:31 to do whatever it is that we do, and he related it to eating and drinking, to the glory of God. That means whatever line of work you’re in, do it to the glory of God.
You will get your reward, and you will likely be a reward to others.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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