The Ministry of Being Fantastic

Catherine and I have a running joke of potential titles for Christian bestselling books that I may write in the future, and as silly as most of them are, they are based on important truths that I think should be shared! (although maybe not necessarily over 175 pages).

The most recent of these book titles is Is God Calling YOU to the Ministry of Being Fantastic? And I think that the answer to this question for every person in the world is yes. What exactly is this ministry and how is it carried out, you may ask. Well, the answer comes from a few trains of thought that I've been having - first: the most important things that most people do in life has to do with day to day things, the encouragement that they give or the integrity that they show and MOST of all the love that they share with people in their lives.

Second: Pastors and others keep trying to convince people that it is not necessary to be ordained or in full-time ministry or have an official title at the church in order to matter and to contribute to the Kingdom of God, to make the world a better place. I am definitely not the first person to think my first thought.

Third: An important verse in my life lately is John 16:27 "The Father himself loves you because you have loved me (Jesus) and have believed that I came from God." God loves me because I love Jesus and because I believe that he was more than a teacher and a prophet, but also God's gift. It is easy to forget how straightforward yet extravagant God's love for us is. I think this is why point 2 keeps coming up, because people don't feel confident to serve God because they don't grasp his love and acceptance of them. Most people have bad habits of remembering all the reasons they aren't good enough and forgetting the promises that God has made them:

• Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
• Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Psalm 68:19
• I (God) have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built. Jeremiah 31:3-4
• The Lord - who is the Spirit - makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:18

I could go on. The point is that God is with us and cares for us and loves us and changes us through our faith in Christ.

Fourth: We are useful to God no matter who we are, because he made us on purpose and for a purpose - and that is our calling. I think that this universal call is well put in Galatians 6:9-10

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

To some people that means working in a church. To some people, that means letting their kids' friends come over even though they are rude and/or messy and eat all the Oreos. The most important part of this passage to me is that God gives us the opportunities to do good (to love and show mercy and be generous), and he is also the one who brings a harvest from our work. He only asks us for what he has made us to give, and then he does the rest, and as more people accept this call, to be their fantastic self with God's help, then God can do more and more in the world.
(Amen)