A heart for ministry

I'm still working on my commencement address. Thanks to those that have sent in ideas. They were some wonderful quotations and scripture. It's harder than I thought it was. To try and put all of your life philosophies into one coherent manuscript is hard. But I'll keep plugging away. The way I figured, by the time some one comes around to realizing what a brilliant person I am and decides to invite me to speak is the same time I'll wrap up this speech. LOL

Yesterday's message had to do with being responsible about our own "fields." Each of us is called to farm a certain amount of land. Some of us, it's our families; others have bigger fields. Ministers have their congregations, evangelists have their missions and so forth. But for most of us, our fields are the people around us. The people closest to us. And for most of us, we have no specialized training on how to farm. The good news is that God sent us into the fields with a manual, the Bible. There were many people God called into the field who thought they were unprepared. He called Moses out and Moses ran away. He said he was a sinner and in any event, he couldn't speak well. God said nonsense, I will send Aaron with you to do the talking. God called Jonah and Jonah ran away. Well, we know what happened to him.

When God called David his dad had to ask Samuel twice if he chose the right son. Samuel said those famous words; "God looks at the heart." Same thing with Gideon. He told God how could he be sent. He was from the weakest family and he was the weakest of his family. But God saw his heart. God saw Moses' heart. When we look at ourselves, we sometimes see the blemishes first. God looks past those blemishes and into your heart. When God calls us sometimes, we're timid and think we are not worthy because we know our inequities and frailties. No one knows me better than myself, with all my shortcomings. No one...except for God. We see our limitations. God sees our potential. So the next time you feel a call, an urging, don't hesitate. Despite of our past and all of the baggage we carry around with us, God doesn't see any of that. He just sees our heart.