Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. – Galatians 6:4 (MSG)
I’m doing a memorization challenge in 2011 through the Living Proof Ministries blog and this is the verse I chose for the second half of January. I came across it in a morning devotional and the more I have meditated on it the past few weeks, the more I can see why God led my eyes to this verse.
As we seek to live missional lives, it’s important that we first know our mission. Not just the overall mission of the church and the specific mission of the church we attend, but our personal mission – who we are and the work that we have been given by God.
That is what we are called to sink our lives into, according to Paul.
At times this can be a struggle for me. I wrestle with competing urges on what I want to be involved in. I dream big dreams of how God might use me. I can easily get pumped after attending a conference or listening to a message. But this verse reminds me that while those are great things, the most important work that I can do is the work that God has given me. Not the work he has given my neighbor, my pastor, or my best friend. The work he has given me.
I’m a crisis counselor at a community college, and I realize that part of my mission is to be the hands and feet of Jesus on a daily basis. Sometimes I can talk about my faith during sessions, sometimes I cannot. But regardless of my words, my actions can always show the love of Jesus.
Wendy Chinn, an associate (fancy word for volunteer) staff member at NLCF in Blacksburg, Virginia, earns her paycheck working part-time as a personal and crisis counselor at New River Community College. She blogs about life at the houseofchinn at http://wechinn.blogspot.com/