“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do
justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
I love the passage quoted above. Why? Well, for me, it cuts to the chase and states
simply God’s expectations of His children. In his first letter to the church in Corinth, the
Apostle Paul stated another expectation just as simply, “Moreover, it is required of
servant one be found faithful” (I Corinthians 4:2). Faithful to what? Being about the
business of our Lord Jesus until He returns to set up His kingdom.
From time to time, I speak to individuals who seem to be overwhelmed by God’s supposed
demands on their lives. They often look out on a world that is awash with various
problems that need to be solved and somehow feel responsible to solve them. I have
good news for these people and perhaps good news for you as well. God is not calling
you to solve the problems at our Southern Border. He is not calling you to negotiate
peace in the Middle East. He is not requiring that you solve the political and economic
dilemmas that plague our nation.
What He is requiring of you is that you faithfully occupy the arenas of your life, your
home, your church, your workplace, the culture outside of your front door. God
wants you to faithfully live for Christ in the places that He has planted you. Or as Eric
Alexander has said, “There is no ideal place to serve God, except where He has set you
down!”
Though I cannot remember where I read it, the following quote has attached itself to my
heart like a Velcro fastener, “God cannot use you where you are not, only where you
are.”
At some time, I believe that all Christians have felt that they could be better used of God
if they were just somewhere else, another location, another church, or maybe even with a
different group of people. But the Apostle Paul, when debating with the Stoic and
Epicurean philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens, said that place on this earth that you
presently occupy was ordained by God. “The God who made the world and all things in
it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself
gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every
nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed
times and the boundaries of their habitation” (Acts 17:24-26).
My friend, today, you are called to occupy the place that God has presently ordained for you to be. And it is His will that you walk faithfully in His way where you presently are and that that you do this faithfully until Christ returns or you join Him at the time that He ordained for you, before you were ever born (Psalm 139:16).
Comments