Do Everything

Steven Curtis Chapman - Do Everything


Yes, yes, I am blogging about a Steven Curtis Chapman song. I am ashamed. No matter what you think about him, he does what some "Christian" artists don't, and that is tell the Gospel  straightforward. Anyway, I digress.


Anyway, the second verse is the one I will be talking about. It talks about two people, with two completely different lifestyles. One being at the higher end of white collar, the other at the lower end of the blue collar spectrum. The lyrics are as follows


You may be that guy with a suit and tie
Maybe your shirt says your name
You may be hooking up mergers, cooking up burgers
But at the end of the day 
Little stuff, big stuff, in between stuff 
God sees it all the same
While I may not know you
I bet I know you wonder sometimes, does it matter at all?
Well let me remind you, it matters just as long


As you do everything you do to the glory of the one who made you
'Cause he made you to do 
Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of His grace, with every move that you make
In everything that you do.


Basically, he is saying that it doesn't matter if you are a chemical engineer (you know who you are), a fraud investigator (you know who you are), or just a meat cutter (you know who... nevermind, that's me). You have a place here on Earth to do God's will. Everybody has different gifts that can be used for the glory of God. Some people think that one set of skills is more important or more admirable than another. Isn't it God who grants everybody their gifts? So how can one set of talents that God has granted to someone be better or worse than another set of gifts that God has granted someone?


1 Corinthians 12:12-20 says the same thing:


The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.


We are all called to spread the Gospel of Christ around the world. You may think that because you are not a priest/pastor/minister/whatever, that you cannot tell people about Christ and spread the good news. Not true. In fact, a wise priest (you know who you are) once said that a priest is not above the people in the parish, that he is there to serve the people, just as Christ came to serve us. What are your spiritual gifts? I don't know, but they  sometimes parallel what you are good at normally. Maybe you're good at teaching others, perhaps teaching a Bible study at church or in your home would be up your alley. Perhaps you are good at talking to people you barely know, volunteering at a local nursing home could be a good fit for you. Perhaps you are good at sitting in front of the computer going to various social networking and Anglican related websites for hours on end. START A BLOG!


Regardless of your gifts or your Bible knowledge, God does have a plan for you and the gifts that He has given you. Keep in the word and pray often. Pray that God will help reveal His gifts that He has given you, for His glory. And always, do everything for the glory of God.


Amen.

This Month's Weekly Refresher?

Once you make the decision to become a priest, it automatically puts a target on your back for Satan to attack you.


The above quote is anonymous. By anonymous, it comes from one of two people, and I can't remember which one. For all I know, it may be both. It's also not an exact quote, but pretty close, and the meaning is the same.


Anyway, it leads perfectly into what I want to talk about for this post. For those that don't know, I feel led to becoming a priest in the Anglican church, more specifically, the Anglican Mission in the Americas. I have been pulled towards ministry since about the third grade, and have on two previous occasions halfway seriously followed up on it, but fell short both times. The third time I decided it was time to go full force, and have been being coached along the way.


Then life got in the way. My wife and I had a second child, work picked-up, Heather (my wife, for those that don't know) went back to get her Masters, plus the already existing daily work and life stresses. It got to the point where 24 hours in one day, or seven days in one week, just weren't enough. So things got pushed to the back burner. I started slacking on planning youth group lessons, I totally disregarded this blog, I haven't been reading the Bible as I should, I cut back on the mentoring from once a week, to once every other week, to just not doing it until things slow down. 


Here I am now, and guess what. Things haven't slowed down. If anything, they have sped up even faster. Life had become too much to handle. I became angrier, somewhat depressed, and even a little aggressive. It wasn't fair to my family, or my co-workers.


I had too much on my plate, and I couldn't handle it. I was literally crying one day and asked God why there was too much for me to handle. I asked Him for help, repeatedly. I heard a song not too long after this happened. The song is by Matthew West and it's called Strong Enough. It was basically a song with lyrics ripped straight out of my life. (The album this song comes from is called "Story of Your Life" Coincidence, I think not.)


You must think I'm strong, to give me what I'm going through
Well forgive me if I'm wrong, but this looks like more than I can do, on my own.
I know I'm not strong enough to be
Everything that I'm supposed to be
I give up, I'm not strong enough....


Again, this is the story of my life. It was exactly what I had been thinking for the past month or so. That last line was word for word what I have said, and have felt for some time. I literally felt like giving up. The rest of the refrain kicks in.


Hands of mercy, won't you cover me
Lord right now, I'm asking you to be
Strong enough, for the both of us.


The second verse:
Well maybe that's the point
To reach to point of giving up
Cause when I'm finally at rock bottom
Well that's when I start looking up
And reaching out


My main problem was that I WAS trying to do this all on my own, and didn't have much success. The truth is we can't get through life all on our own. We not only need the help of God, but the help of our family and friends. It has never been easy for me to ask for help, it may have something to do with the Y chromosome. At any rate, I asked God for help, and now I have to ask the people around me for help as well. 


I realize that this isn't an issue that only I struggle with. Chances are you have had or have now similar issues to mine. The important thing that I have learned is not to give up, and not to push the important things aside. It is also important not to keep things bottled up inside. The most important thing is not to forget God. I forgot him, look where it got me. It is okay to ask for help, don't let the Y chromosome, or the X chromosome for those that don't have both, get in your way.


As always, keep in the word, keep praying. It is by God's grace that can save you, not yourself.


Amen.