I always wanted to be a detective. I know that sounds juvenile, but I was an internal affairs (IA), welfare and Medicaid fraud investigator for the state for what felt like forever. I was methodical and intuitive but the thing that boosted my success was my ability to relate to others and obtain confessions. I truly believe that, but by the grace of God, I would not have been able to elicit such a high rate of confessions. You see, as IA, I worked to protect the assets and lives of the developmentally disabled who could not protect themselves.
A
city detective that I worked with on one specifically horrific case, asked me
to apply because they needed more good detectives on the force. I made
inquiries and found out that I had to enter as an officer and work swing shifts
for possibly years before I could make detective. This was a time when the show
“Cops” was on the tube and my son cried when I told my three kids that I would
like to be a police officer. However, I was a single mom, three kids. I couldn’t
imagine working swing shifts and not knowing what day it is or trying to sleep
when they are awake… nope. Not for me.
It
is interesting how many people want to be something but never quite get past
the hard knocks that it takes to get there. People want to wear the badge but
not really do the work. A whole lotta people out there seem to be a little
confused about what it takes to reach a goal and wear the badge.
Hear
me out. It may be obvious to most that you can't visit the police
station one day a week and call yourself an officer. You can't ace a written
test for the honor to be in the military. You can't be an officer or soldier
during the week and a felon on the weekends. Being in the military requires
integrity, honor and courage. They must abide by a special set of principles
and values. They go through rigorous physical, mental and emotional training
and education to "be all they can be."
They are trained to defend their country. They are willing to lay down their lives for others,
putting others above self. Soldiering takes a special type of warrior. It is a noble position. But they didn’t grab a number 2 pencil, fill out a test
and walk in. They have to be knowledgeable. They have to have stamina to stick
it out during the physical trials. They better be able to be discerning,
accountable, disciplined, physically and mentally fit. They can’t just take a seat
and be done once they are in. If they want to be the best of the best, they
better keep doing all that they can to surrender to the commander’s will and
save lives.
It
isn’t about the uniform. It isn’t about the badge. It wouldn’t be worth it if
that were the case. There is something deeper and more meaningful to the choice
to serve one’s Country. It is a heart thing. Not everyone can do it.
You see, the soldier learns to live, breathe and die
for the mission. It is literally written on their hearts. They let nothing
stand in the way of the mission. They
get beat up, shot down and blown up… and still they are soldiers until their
dying breath. When they held themselves to a higher calling, they surrendered everything
to it knowing that this is required of them. No regrets.
You see, I want to reach in and rescue those of you
who have been told that you only need to visit once a week and call it good. I
want to caution you that just calling yourself something doesn’t make it so.
Wearing a title or a badge doesn’t make it true. Knowing every single answer in
the book, doesn’t write it on your heart. You can’t be half in. You can’t be
living on a double-edged sword. You can’t be all that you can be one day and
beat down the innocent in the next. You can’t let your life or your children’s
lives be worldly and broken and put on your Sunday best once a week. You just can’t.
James 1:22-25: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he
is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks
at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who
looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer
who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
We are under the mistaken idea that ministering to the
broken is a ‘pastor’s’ or a “priest’s” job. You see, the name tag doesn’t make
you a pastor or a priest and neither does standing behind a pulpit or running a
church. What you do as a follower of Christ makes (or breaks) you as a
Minister to all people, at all times.
We think that we are just bystanders or
audiences in the church, weekly visitors. We feel like if we give up our Sundays
to sit in the pew and listen and we be careful not to be bad, then we are doing
what we should. We think that if we are ‘good’ people, we get a pass. No. Trust
me. I got it wrong for decades! Don’t live to be 40 before you figure it out!
But if you have, start here.
If you have given yourself to the Lord… if you have fully
surrendered or just sayin’ that you did, if you want to use the term
Christian, then act like it. And when you don’t act like it, repent and get
back up again!
You have a responsibility to the One who made you. How
are you going to know how to “be” without reading the one book that outlines
what He wants for and from us? How are you going to recognize a lie from the
truth when someone throws a false response to you about what the book says, and
you don’t even know? Worse, how are you going to recognize a false prophet if
you didn’t read what He has warned us to watch for? He even says that some Christians
will fall for the lies and turn against one another!
2 Tim 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness,
Listen, I don’t want to have to watch my back because
you didn’t want to take the time to write it on your heart. Amen?!
If you were fortunate to be blessed with children, you
best be raising them up in the way that they should go. Do you want them to
grow up ignorant and left behind? Do you want them to burn in Hell? There is a
good reason to start them young. You plant the seed so deep that even if they do
stray, they will recognize the truth. Be the example that shows them what a Christ
filled life looks like.
Prov 22:6: Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
If you weren’t blessed with children, well, you still
have a world full of people that the Good Book says to put before yourself so
you got plenty of time and love to be spreading. Your mission, if you are a Christian,
is to minister to the broken, love others above yourself, be a Christ like
example to the world, share the Word with those who don’t know, and produce
fruit! (Go back and read the 5th paragraph again only think in terms
of Christians.)
John 13:35: By this all people will know that you are
my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Now, don’t get worried about how much time you have after
work and all that. When I first became a chrisitan, I was in church three times
a week out of great gratitude and expectation. If you don’t have that kind of
time, don’t let anyone guilt you. That isn’t what our Good God intended. I am
simply saying that if it is written on your heart, you will naturally minister
to others when He brings someone in your life that needs it. He will
compel you to approach someone who is hurting. He will lead you
to help someone or do something or be somewhere. He knows that you have to work
in this world to get by. He knows that you have children who play soccer. I
mean, He IS God after all. Just be open to feel Him compelling you to do what
is right.
1 Thes 5:11: Therefore encourage one another and build
one another up, just as you are doing.
People tend to put a lot of pressure on others to
serve in ways that are difficult solely for their own agenda. But if you just
follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, you will be fine.
If you get knocked down, you have to get back up. If
you get wounded, you get right and get back up. If you do wrong, you right it. If
you lose hope, you refill it. You can’t live lukewarm. You have to put everyone
before yourself, but God before all. Anything less is hypocrisy. You are His sheep. Follow the Shephard. Be the
LAMB.
Listen to His Words
Accept His Holy Spirit to
guide you
Minister to others as the
need arises
Be the Light
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