What defines ministry? When does it start and stop? Is ministry just showing up to serve with some bible study group two nights a week? Well yes, but much much more…
I think if God is the true Lord of your life, then your life is ministry and ministry is your life. If you have spent a lot of time in Christian circles, that may sound like a familiar cliché to you. Gosh though if it isn’t one of the truest statements about what ministry is!!!
While Jesus was on earth, He did most of His “ministry” on the way to heading somewhere else. He sacrificed worldly success for relationships every single time. Small sacrifice is an understatement. The world gauges progress and success based on how closely you reach your certain goal or destination. By the gauge of the Kingdom, success is far less liner and far more full of beauty and color.
What if there was no future destination you were trying to get to? No theoretical place in life that defines whether you’ve “made it” or not. What if the only goal is to be fully aware of God in whatever space you’re in? What if the only thing He wants you to do today is sit at His feet and marvel at the beauty of the world that He by grace designed and keeps spinning just because He loves you?
Today a few of us World Racers got the chance to go to another park that the mayor wanted us to pour our love into. (For those of you keeping score at home, yep we’re on park number 3!!!). We showed up to find a pretty beat up park that has a lot of potential. The park was covered in trash, there was broken glass scattered, and some fences and soccer goals that were torn down or destroyed.
We also found a couple the was clearly living in the park. One of them, I got to ask his name and using our trusty Google translate, another squad member talked with him for a bit. When he found out we were cleaning the park in the name of Jesus he joined in the cleanup during the morning. What a sweet encounter.
After lunch, we came back ready to really clean, armed with a wheelbarrow and lots of rakes. We were quickly interrupted, thank God. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, around ten kids gathered at the park and hung out with us. They ranged in age from 2-7.
As soon as they found out what we were doing, they couldn’t help but hop in. Another squad mate gave them each a pair of gloves and every single one of them started freely helping with the cleanup. It was sweet sweet sweet for the soul. The distinguishing thing about Gods love is that when someone brushes up against it, they are never left the same as they were before. What a gift that we get to carry that love into Jaco. If you know the Lord, you have Holy Spirit inside of you too which means you get the opportunity, maybe even the responsibility to bring Him with you wherever you go.
The whole point of fixing up these parks is to bring more Kingdom to earth. Cleaning up parks gives us the perfect opportunity to be interrupted by people that we get to love. Sometimes you get to share your story, sometimes all you get to share is a smile. Never let the evil one convince you that either of those are insignificant. Any way that you convey Gods love to another human being is so so so significant.
Wow wow wow could you imagine the impact on the world if every single one of us just let God show us what He wants to show us in a single day? By the end of our day at the park, the kids (easily) convinced us to play soccer with them and we got to play and laugh together so hard! What a gift!!!
Sometimes ministry is leading a small group. Sometimes ministry is painting a wall. Sometimes ministry is as simple as letting a kid show you their puppy and annihilate you in soccer. This morning, back at the park, one of our friends from the Semesters squad brought balloons to make balloon animals for all of the kids; that’s ministry too!!! Ministry is looking into someone’s eyes, asking their name, and making sure they know they are loved by the Father in whatever form that may take.
By the worlds standards, if you look at what we got done in the park yesterday, you may be tempted to think it was a waste of a day. Really all we physically accomplished was cleaning up some trash, sticks and leaves. What happened in the Kingdom though was so much more. There is always so much more! I’ve been praying God will show me His face in EVERY thing and person around me. Maybe you want to ask God to show you the same thing this week? Maybe you want to pray for God to show you when to look up from the course you’ve laid out for yourself? Ask Him! He will show you!
