It is so easy to lose your way in the church. I seemed to have been more grounded and directed before I came to Christ. I was surer of myself when I was “out there” on my own! Okay, maybe it’s just me but when I first came to the church I would hear sermons like “Only what you do for Christ will Last” and “Seek the Lord to find your Purpose”. Huh? I thought I knew what I was here to do and that the good things I did were good. What did this preacher mean by the things I do for Christ would be the only things that matter?
I was perplexed. I had done a lot of things before I was saved – good and bad. My good deeds were not tied to the church before I was saved…would those things go to waste? I had done many things like purchased school clothes for underprivileged children, and paid for groceries for hungry people, and bought gifts for entire families at Christmas time. My list of good things was long. What would happen to all the good stuff I did for people before I got saved?! I panicked and thought that I should get busy and establish a new Good Deeds Record. You know what a Good Deeds Record is – committing acts of kindness from within the church after you get saved so that both God and you would be sure that these things were now done for Him to your credit.
There are people out there who will make others feel like if the good things they do are not directly tied to their church,denomination, or ministry then it is not done for God and therefore holds no substance and has no value. As a result, most people get confused when they come to the church and began to make a run for the pulpit. Preaching the gospel is not to be used as a way to make sure that you are doing something for God or to be used as a mean to fame. Too many people think that preaching is the only thing that is acceptable as doing something for God. There are people who do not know how to even read saying that they have been called to preach. Preaching has now become more glamorized and less spiritualized because many people do not understand that any act of love is what is done for Christ. Preaching is serious business because we have souls on our hands and lives in our hearts.Preachers are anointed, called, and commissioned by God. Not the Bishop. Not the Pope. Not a Committee. Not the Seminary degree. God alone has to qualify a preacher. Those qualities include power to cast out demons, anointing to preach with effectiveness, tenacity to deal with the cares of people, fortitude to travail into the supernatural, and much more!
I love my call to preach but not every born again believer has to hold a microphone to be heard! God hears your heart. His ears are inclined unto us at all times. He hears your witness to unbelieving colleagues at work. He accepts your words of strength to that destitute woman at the bus stop. God embraces your hugs of encouragement to that man whose wife has passed. The Lord is moved by our prayer for our neighbor’s health. Our Father smiles when you help others to be able to smile. The Lord honors every good deed done from the heart. Stop thinking that what you do has to have some kind of holy recognition to be counted for Kingdom work.
We need to find our place. Our place in God is the place where He is pleased with us. Each of us has a place, a position, a point of arrival in our walk with the Father where He is pleased with our faith in who He is, our love for each other, and our representation of His character. Our places are all different and unique. That is why Psalm 91:1 says for us to remain (dwell) in that place, His secret place for each of us, until we know our Father as our Father knows us. The secret place is where your motivation is true, your agenda is pure, and your relationship with God is unconditional.
Mia Montgomery