I Don't Got This... And I'm Glad
I Got This
I can do this. I’m creative. I’m talented. I’m working for God’s kingdom. I tell those things to myself on a daily basis. So often working in creative ministry, we get so caught up our next deadline or what the church next door is doing, that our ministry becomes more about us and what we're doing for God than Him and His kingdom. We enjoy what we do and take pride in what we create, but we can get to a point where that’s our only focus.
“Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from the love of the thing he tells, to the love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him.”
This quote really resonates with me because it’s so easy to find your identity in your work for God rather than in God himself. You’re really busy doing great things for the kingdom, but are you really doing it to further God’s kingdom or your own?
I Am Inadequate
I’m speaking at a worship conference at the end of the month, leading breakout sessions in creative ministry. While I am honored to be asked to speak, I feel severely under qualified. Most of the other speakers have been working in creative ministry since before I was born. What could I possibly have to say to people to inspire or challenge them in ministry? While I was sitting here petrified, I was reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 where it says “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, the I am strong.” Wow. I am glad that God’s kingdom doesn’t rest on my shoulders. If people experiencing God or getting saved rested on how well I did my job, I would fail every time.
God Doesn't Need Me To Further His Kingdom
Sometimes we get caught up in God using us that we only want Him to use us. We are okay with God moving, as long as He uses us to do it. We want people to be saved and powerful moments of worship to occur as long as we had something to do with it. What if instead of praying for God to move through us, we simply prayed for God to move, regardless of who He uses? We then rejoice in the advancement of God’s kingdom rather than our own.
I Don't Got This... And I'm Glad
I’m not the most talented or the most creative. I’m not the most eloquent. I’m not the most innovative. But God loves that. God doesn’t require us to be perfect or the best to use us. He simply wants a willing heart. When we think that God needs us to work or that we can carry our ministry on our own shoulders, that’s precisely when it’s hardest for God to use us. Our weaknesses remind us daily that we desperately need our Creator and cannot sustain without Him. I am thankful for my inadequacies, for where my weaknesses abound, God more than fulfills.