Relationship and Ministry

Maybe this is something you’ve heard before. Maybe this is something you’ve heard a lot of before. Or maybe this is something you’ve never heard before.

But it’s worth hearing again. And then some.

Do you remember this principle in Matthew 6? This latter part of this chapter encourages us to “Take no thought for” or “Be not overly concerned about” … our life. What a confidence we can have in God – despite all that’s going on, it’s still not too much for God (even if circumstances seem that way). And the 33rd verse put a nice cap on it:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
— Matthew 6:33

This is our (Christian’s) priority setter. To a Christian, this verse checks the barometer of life, leans back and ponders – how’s that thing looking?

Now, at this point, it’s easy to say “I’m a good Christian” and start to list the ways in which you are seeking God above other “things” in life – other “stuff” – in other words “all these things [which] the Gentiles seek” (Matthew 6:32).

This is good – I’d love to have a nice long list of things and times I’ve chosen God’s way over my way. But, that’s not what I’m talking about here. No, we’ve just base-lined – the next part is what challenges us.

God prefers a relationship with you even above seeing you fulfil your calling in life.

Say what?

Maybe you don’t like that – and the reasoning goes something like God gaveme my ministry which means He wants me dedicated to it 100%. Don’t worry, this is still a true statement. Or mostly true statement.

This is a little Matthew 6:33 moment. God gives us lots of things as blessings to our lives and privileges we get to enjoy. And then God says – Don’t seek these things – seek Me.

How does seeking stuff differ from seeking something God has called us to, if they are different? Where’s God is either of those?

(Quick disclaimer: What I’m not saying is that we shouldn’t consider our calling from God as something less than holy and built to connect with our very physical, emotional and spiritual abilities.)

It’s a fine line, to be sure. God wants so much for us – He wants life, blessings, prosperity, etc. He also wants us to find what He is calling each and every one of us to do.

But above all – He just wants us.

In my personal life, I’m still trying to find “my calling” – God, what is it you want me to do? And what I’ve heard is “patience”.

Before pondering Relationship and Ministry, I might have used “patience” as a reason to keep seeking a ministry, trying things out, asking God to bless it, etc. … but just a little more “patiently”. (So human of me.)

Now, when I hear “patience”, I think to myself Oops, God wants me to get closer to Him and deepen my Relationship with Him – I must not have been doing that properly before.. And then I say Okay, God – let me seek you alone..

God may pull the plug on your ministry (bare with me here, it may be more like hiccups or why-can’t-I-get-this-to-work) if your relationship with Him isn’t primary, first, initial, most important.

I used to think relationship with God was good, but I think I thought of it as a “means to an end” before. Now it’s more like – relatinoship is the only thing, the primary thing.

Which is a lot like “seek ye first” from Matthew 6:33. It’s a good place to be – it does mean that “ministry stuff” may not move like I want or as fast as I want or where I want. But that’s definitely fine with me now – having seen it differently. Praise God – what a loving and workable Father.

Let’s make God first even among things that are first-able. 🙂