Unlike FedEx...

I am not-amazing at many things.

Sometimes it's easy to look at your pastor whom many people see only once week and think that there is a person who has it all together. Every time he or she speaks there is something poignant said and everything they do seems to be done with a level of excellence.

If that's the impression you have of me, or any other pastor you have, or have had in the past you might not be paying very close attention. My life has been a non-stop series of failures floating downstream on a river of God's limitless grace.

Over the last few weeks I've been visiting many of my new church family and getting to know them and what makes them tick. I'm consistently amazed at the skills and talents that exist within the church and how they are so diversely distributed among the members of the body.

For example I can't renovate my house, or fix my car, or create my own art. I don't have a green thumb, have never succeeded in any attempt to learn another language, I can't really ice skate and I have never downhill skied. I have never been athletic and have generally always got picked last at team sports because I was never that good. Yet amidst all of that God has still given me a desire for excellence. I know the difference between a good drywalling job and a bad one, and it bugged me to no end in one of our previous houses that some of the work I did leaned toward the lesser end of the spectrum. I like things that are aesthetically pleasing and I think that I have a good eye for art - but I am hopeless to do anything to create something beautiful myself. These sorts of things have led over the years to me developing a real insecurity about my abilities to accomplish these things and a genuine fear of even trying. Were it not for the loving assurances and an almost maternal level of encouragement that I have received from Joanna in these times I don't think anything would get done.

I know how the fear of failure can lead you to not even try.

In the same way I know that the few things I am skilled at can become intimidating for others who don't have the same giftings or talents and can lead to an equally paralyzing fear of failure when it comes to service in the church or even disciplines of the Christian life. You see someone stand up and preach an eloquent sermon and you say to yourself that I could never speak to a crowd like that and so you bottle up the testimony that the Lord has given you and never share it with the church because you're afraid that you won't sound as good as the preacher. Or you see someone effortlessly sharing their faith and you say to yourself that I could never have the courage to ask my non-Christian friends those types of questions and I wouldn't know how to respond if they asked me any questions back, so you never share your faith with anyone. Or you look at the person in your life that really needs to be mentored and discipled and you say to yourself that you have nothing to offer that new believer because you haven't become a superstar of the faith yet yourself and so nobody mentors them and eventually they leave the church.

Like me, you are not-amazing at many things too.

But you and I, amazing or not, have been called by an amazing God and empowered by him to do the things that matter when they matter most.

Consider Jesus' teaching from Luke 12:

I tell you, my friends, don’t be terrified by those who can kill the body but after that can do nothing more. I’ll show you whom you should fear: fear the one who, after you have been killed, has the authority to throw you into hell. Indeed, I tell you, that’s the one you should fear. Aren’t five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them is overlooked by God. Even the hairs on your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. “I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before humans, the Human One will acknowledge before God’s angels. But the one who rejects me before others will be rejected before God’s angels. Anyone who speaks a word against the Human One will be forgiven, but whoever insults the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, rulers, and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what you should say. The Holy Spirit will tell you at that very moment what you must say.”

Luke 12:4-12

Not many of us are being dragged before the authorities for our Christian faith, but the little parts of living out the Christian life can sometimes feel as daunting to us. We worry about how our words will be received; we worry about whether we might be seen as a crazy church-nut; we worry about the embarrassment of a rejected invitation or the feeling of abject failure when someone doesn’t immediately accept the Gospel invitation, or understand our follow the logic of our arguments when we try to explain the deeper truths of the Christian life. Like I have been with household projects, we sometimes find ourselves so incapacitated by fear that we decide it’s better not to do anything. But unlike renovating a bathroom or fixing a car, we are promised a dispensation of the Spirit to aid us in completing the challenges that are laid before us in the Great Commission.

Jesus says clearly that the Holy Spirit will tell us what we are to say. He will give us the words, and more than that we also know that he will tell us who to say these things to (Acts 11:12), where to go (Acts 16:9) and even set up supernaturally orchestrated opportunities for us to love out the Gospel (Acts 8:27). The testimony of the church throughout history is an ongoing story of the provision, empowerment, and revelation of the Holy Spirit in the people of God to accomplish the will of God for the world.

You may not be as amazing at many things as the FedEx guy, but you do have an Amazing God that dwells within you – and he’s amazing at more things even than the FedEx guy – including making you amazing at doing his will.

Just something to consider,

Chris