On Being Called
”Once a task has begun, never leave it ‘till it’s done. Be the labor big or small, do it well or not at all.”
I don’t know who coined that phrase, but I sure wish I did. As a child, I heard my father repeat that tagline often.
Frequently in a nuclear family, a church family, or even among a circle of friends, there are the doers and those who are content with allowing the “doers” to do it all.
The Gospels tell us about the personality aspects of the sisters: Martha and Mary. Apparently, Martha was a busy bee who wanted to organize, plan, prepare and serve wholeheartedly, not leaving anything to chance. Mary on the other hand, from what we read in Luke 10:38-42*, chose not to worry about the mundane, but was perfectly content to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to him preach.
Was Jesus being condescending to Martha when he said to her ‘Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken from her.’* Was he saying that Martha’s gifts of service and hospitality were not important? Sometimes I have heard preachers speculate and say, Jesus was saying that Martha was wrong. While she may have been distracted, it is clear from other bible passages that Jesus loved Martha and Mary equally.
After all, wasn’t it Martha who ran to meet Jesus first and proclaimed her faith when her brother Lazarus had already died? Wasn’t it she who said “if you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! “*
Often we hear about a project that needs doing and no one is stepping up to the plate. So without thinking, or prayerful consideration, we find ourselves the doer of the deed.
On our journey, it takes practice and considerable discernment to distinguish between what tasks we are able to do and which ones God has called us to do.
If we rush, we will invariably be short-sighted and not well prepared to accomplish what we set out to do. On the other hand, if we procrastinate and don’t attempt to fulfill a project that we think we are able to tackle, it may never work out the way we had intended.
So, what do we do? All of us have unique gifts given to us by our heavenly father. If we use all of our time, energy, and thoughts to concentrate on too many projects we accomplish very little. Furthermore, by focusing on the few (tasks, missions, assignments or projects that God has called us to do), we will accomplish more with our God-given natural talents than all the time wasted trying to succeed in fulfilling every task or assignment that comes our way.
And of course prayerfully we are often called to minister to those individuals God puts in our path.
Prayer: Oh Lord, help us to hear your voice when calling us to a task. Allow us to clearly distinguish and listen for your voice so that we may glorify and know that you have equipped and called us so that whatever the task is, we do it well.
Luke 10:38-42, John 11:21, Good News Bible
