Afraid to Serve

1 Peter 4:10-11 NLT

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another.  Do you have the gift of speaking?  Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.  Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.  Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.

Luke 1: 74 NLT

We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear.

Not very long ago (ummm….last week) I sat looking at the message that seemed to be screaming at me from the screen of my cell phone, “We are short handed in the Explorers classroom on Sunday at the 6pm service, is there anyone who is able to help?” 

My first thought was, someone else will step up and fill in, they won’t need me.  As the weekend dragged on, the message continued to weigh heavy on me, and by Saturday evening no one had volunteered to teach.  I was praying hard, begging God that someone, anyone would step up, because as crazy as it sounds, I had never taught in that classroom before and a room full of 2 & 3 year olds scared the crap out of me.  

By Sunday afternoon it was obvious that no one was going to volunteer, and I knew that God was dragging me kicking and screaming toward the fateful Explorers door where I just knew I would be overtaken by a hoard of squirmy toddlers with the attention span of a squirrel.  I was scared, felt completely unprepared and inadequate to handle the task at hand.

I prayed for courage and patience, and maybe just maybe that someone in an Explorers superhero cape would swoop in and rescue me from impending doom. But then something pretty awesome happened. God reminded me that He doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.

God has equipped each of us with special gifts and talents. But how often do we make excuses, wait for someone else to fill the need, or let our own fear keep us from what God is calling us to do?

Imagine a week where every empty space on the schedule was filled with eager volunteers, ready to share the love of Jesus with kids.  That every request for help was not only filled but there was an abundance of help and a line of eager volunteers ready to serve and fill the need.  

The Bible says in Luke 1:74 that “we have been rescued from our enemies” God has conquered fear, He has conquered the enemy and the lies that he tells us. Because of this “we can serve God without fear.” Do you, like me, wait for someone else to step up, someone else to be generous with their time, pray and beg God to call on someone else?

Over the next month, I would like to challenge all of us to serve without fear!  When there is a need, fill it!  When God lays something on our hearts, do it!  Don’t wait for someone else, be the hands and feet of Jesus.

So, some of you may be wondering if I survived my Explorers adventure.  I am happy to report that Explorers is a lot less scary a place for me now.  In fact, I realized that the semi-tiny humans have a lot to teach me about love, kindness and how to just be silly.