Try this. Gather the children around, let them know the dishwasher is off bounds for the evening, and ask who wants to volunteer to wash dishes.
Don’t expect any takers. No one wants to do the hard, unpleasant jobs.
Try the same thing in church. Gather the members together, let them know there’s a missions project in the making, and ask who’s willing to pay their own way to serve for the Lord?
The hands will be scarcer than hen’s teeth. For those of us who didn’t grow up on farms, hens don’t have teeth.
Yet, God did this in heaven. He brought together the highest powers that be, and he said, “I have the toughest job of all coming up. It’s worse than washing dishes, and more painful than paying for a missions trip out of your own pocketbook. I need someone to walk among men on earth. Before anyone raises a hand, be aware, you’re also volunteering to be tortured along the way, and die the cruelest death mankind can envision.”
Jesus’ hand flew into the air. We can read of it in John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Let’s turn that back to ourselves. What has God asked us to do?
Malachi 3:10 says:
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”
Hebrews 11:6 tells us:
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
1 John 4:1 tells us:
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
1 Peter 5:8 tells us:
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
Hebrews 13:4 tells us:
“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”
2 Timothy 2:15 tells us:
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
When we raise our hands, we are volunteering to do the good work of the Lord. When we do his work, his will is done all across our world.
Volunteering to work for Christ is what our Christian walk is all about.
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