Re-commissioning

At In the Clearing Bob offers more good advice:

We are called to be ministers of grace and reconciliation, carriers of the Good News to a hurting and sin-corrupted world. That commission is laid on us whether we are sick or well, poor or rich, etc. Our circumstances change, but our commission remains.

And note this: we carry out this commission in a battle-zone! Maybe the toil and trouble of the week has caused us to forget our high calling, and maybe we have at times set it aside in favor of other things (as did Demas). On Sunday, when the called ones come back together for encouragement and equipping, it's so that they might return to the battle with renewed hope.

So Preacher, remind me of who I am in Christ. Re-commission me each week. If you are preaching to believers, you are speaking to people whom God has made "competent to be ministers of a new covenant . . ." [2 Cor 3.6] What a powerful statement that is. Whatever competence we have comes from God, of course, but if it comes from God, it's nothing to sneeze at! Yet, in my experience, we often do not realize our competence as ministers. We need to be reminded. We need to be taught. We need to know who we are in Christ!

Amen. I'll do my best, Bob. And through God's grace, I'll do better than my best.