Serving as an Act of Worship
Renae Denbow
Jeremy Yap | Unsplash
It started out like this: A friend of mine had a bed frame. I had a family in mind and was praying for a mattress … when suddenly someone "randomly" dropped one off at the school where our church meets on Sundays! We scrambled to fit an unexpected blessing into an unsuspecting volunteer's unprepared truck. I was fully expecting God to do something miraculous, through all of this "inconvenience." I was prepared to tell this young mother how God came through in an unconventional way for her, how he provided through this unexpected turn of events.
My friend and I spent the morning loading everything into her SUV. We made a few stops in a failed attempt to purchase the last few things this family needed. And then we waited, and waited and waited. We'd been given a go-ahead by the caseworker and told that mom would call "any minute" so we could make that connection.
Mom. Never. Called.
After several attempts to contact her and her caseworker, we gave up. We unloaded everything into my garage and sighed. I'm not going to lie: It felt like a waste of a LOT of energy.
But then the Lord spoke... and I got my miracle after all.
He said, "I accept this offering."
I was so humbled as he reminded me that everything I do, I do FOR HIM. All the outcomes are in his hands. I do my part and He does his.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." Romans 12:1
I needed to surrender my convenience and focus myself on "TRUE and PROPER worship." My encouragement to us is not "see, it all works out in the end." (Though it might... this family's story isn't over yet.) The encouragement I found is that EITHER WAY, we are determined to glorify HIM in the process. CarePortal wouldn't be involved with this family at all if there wasn't a messy situation being worked out. I choose to count it all joy that I get to participate in God's plan for them. And I will rejoice in the fact that He has it all in His hands.
As we approach our TRUE and PROPER worship, may we all have a precious moment with God where he accepts our offering.
Reflection Questions:
Have you ever had a ministry situation where the miracle you wanted God to provide didn’t happen? How do you think God can still be glorified in those situations?
What does it mean to you that God calls us to be a “living sacrifice”? (Romans 12:1)
How can you cultivate this attitude of worship in your ministry?
