Day 019

As for us, we always thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation, a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and by your belief in the truth. He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News: now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 (The New Living Translation)

Consecration Community and Calling

It is a deep joy and a privilege to be called to church ministry!

Every day we get to hear the stories of people whose love of God and commitment to other people is transforming communities. It is deeply humbling to think that, somehow, we are part of God’s great Family – the Church, which is called to be united by our common worship and obedience of God and our shared commitment to serve those around us. The Church is also called to be a consecrated community, a Holy Spirit band of obedient ragamuffins who want to see the Kingdom of God come ‘on earth as in heaven’.

We are held together by God’s love for us, and His calling of consecration and obedience upon our lives. We do not do what we do for money, prestige or power. We serve others and love them because we ourselves have been served and loved by God. His commitment to us, and His gift of salvation – healing, help and wholeness – has so transformed our lives that our response is to offer other people this same love, this same healing, this same help and this same wholeness. But before we offer others this remarkable life of hope and possibility, we must be willing to admit our own failings, failures and need of God’s grace. Consecration is the pathway to purpose.

We are changed by the power of God’s Spirit and by the power of God’s truth. Others are too. And we do what we do because God has called us to do it. And how did He call us? Each of us have a different story to tell, but His truth was revealed to us through someone else. Note that Paul says here that the people in Thessalonica were called to salvation when he (Paul) told them the Good News. And what is the Good News? That God’s Kingdom has come, and all can now share in the glory of God if we are willing to bow before the King and respond to His call. In all our ministering, we must never lose sight of our need of grace ourselves.

A consecrated life is a thankful life rooted in remembering the grace of God toward us.

For further thought –

Are there ways in which you need to remember the wonderful way in which God has worked in your life? Remember that we cannot offer other people what we have not somehow discovered to be true ourselves. Take time today to remember exactly what God has done for you and your community and allow that to be an encouragement for you as you think about how you serve others. Don’t allow yourself to forget the grace of God. Ask God to help you to live in it daily and to commit to it constantly.