High Expectations...

I was recently reading Acts 9:15-16 and stopped to reflect on the implications of these verses... 

"But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

I remember the day that I responded to the invitation at end of the Sunday morning message. I stepped out of the aisle, a little anxious but very sure that the Lord was calling me into the ministry. 

Questions flooded my mind as I left church that day. What would all of this mean going forward? What kind of training would I need? Where and how would God have me serve? Yet, in all of this, I was very excited about this leading and call from God.

It's rather interesting that in the midst of excitement and great expectations, I never gave thought of the possibility of God's calling me to seasons of suffering for the sake of His name. As pastors and church leaders we have all been visited by dreams of success and high hopes for ministry growth. We expected this to require hard work... but not suffering. Where did we read this in the job description?

Paul's ministry was historic and life altering in more ways than one, but God never sold him a bill of goods. Making a difference for Jesus was going to cost him, and it did. A little over twenty years later Paul wrote the following in his second letter to the Corinthians... 

"For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again."~ 2 Cor. 1:8–10

Fifty-nine years have past since I walked down that church aisle. Many expectations blossomed in ways far greater than I had hoped. Yet, they didn't come without hard hits, rough roads, and yes... some suffering for His Name. Would I do it again? IN A HEARTBEAT! 

It's an incredible privilege to serve the Chief Shepherd my brother. I stand by the statement that there is no higher call in life than the call of God to the ministry. So, as you face aother year with high expectations and potential suffering... Stay the Course! Because, "On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again." and again, and again... Until the doors of glory open wide and the words are spoken so tenderly... "Well done". 

~ PJVS