A servant of this gospel

Ephesians 3:7-8 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,

Living in the inter mountain west gives me the opportunity to see weather that is both dramatic and extreme. The altitude gives me comfort in that any tornadoes will be relatively minor in strength. There is a battle that I witness in the Spring as Winter slowly loosens it's grip and gives way to the warmth I look forward to. It snowed about 50 miles north of Pocatello yesterday and this morning it is 29 degrees in Pocatello. The struggle continues, but Spring is relentlessly pushing back the veil of Winter.

Have you ever stopped to think what it means to be a servant of the Gospel? I am not talking about just casually thinking this over. It's all about looking at the Gospel of Jesus Christ, taking serious time to meditate and pray on what this means to you individually. It means pushing aside the clutter in your mind and in your heart to listen to what God has to say about this subject to you personally. In 1 Samuel 3:9 Eli realizes that the Lord is calling Samuel and tells Samuel "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'" The Lord is calling each of us to serve Him in some ministry to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our part in this effort may be small, or large. It may involve using the spiritual gifts given to us ( 1 Corinthians 12).

I have found that being a servant of the Gospel has a few drawbacks. Matthew 20 contains some insight into this. Being a servant means placing your life and your desires second to those of the Lord. It means that you may be called on to serve at a time when it is not convenient. It means serving and upsetting family members by your act of service. The road is not wide, soft and comfortable. The road is narrow and hard. As devoted followers of Jesus Christ that is the road we are called to follow. We share what we are called on to share.  The time and the place is often not of our choosing, but we are called and we respond. When I reflect upon the cross I am confident suffering the humiliation of the cross was never convenient for Christ. And yet He went up on the cross willingly because that was the will of His Father. And in doing so He changed forever the lives of all sinners. We often do not have the opportunity to see the results of our being a servant of the Gospel. We serve and trust in the Lord that our efforts will bear fruit. We serve not for our glory. Rather, we serve so that God would receive all the praise, all the honor and all the glory. Sometimes it hurts to serve. And when that is the case we go the Lord in prayer and as ask for His peace that surpasses all understanding. We ask for His comfort through His Holy Spirit that no medicine can replace. And through all the pain and hurt we keep on saying 'Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening.'

PRAYER: Father of all comfort, at times we are called upon to serve You in a manner, at a time, or in a place which can be difficult. We are called upon to serve You at times or in ways that others do not understand. And this causes us pain. Lord, we ask for Your peace that surpasses all understanding. We ask for the Holy Spirit to comfort us. And we ask for the faith to keep on serving. All this we ask in the name of Jesus, Amen.