Where Ability Ends, Faith Begins

It's often been misquoted "God helps those who help themselves" as a thermometer for gauging dedication or slotheness. And although the bible is full of indications that endeavor us to work hard, do good works, and to meet needs whenever presented to us, it is somewhat silent on how we are to approach these tasks.

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Unlike when we are considering our options for attending colleges and choosing majors, the job of ministry doesn't have to be something we forever thought of ourselves as doing or enabled. When talking to young adults about career paths (that which many of these folks have only begun to take seriously when being kicked out of their homes at 20 for lack of job or looking), I am usually offered the "well, what I like to do is..." Or, "I really enjoy blankety-blank." Then, when decisions must be made, it usually comes down to a skill set or a specific capability. Hence, we do our jobs relying almost entirely on what we are able to perform.

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What's missing from most peoples day-to-day business decisions is the "what if..."

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In ministry though, we find ourselves again relying on what we are able to do. Then, when faced with the occasions of ministry requiring more than what we can do, we become frustrated at our lack. We look to our own abilities first. Our decisions are based largely on what we perceive our limitations to be. We have ecome trained to look at things in this way.

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What's missing though is the "what if...." The "what can God do in this situation." The "how would God approach this task." The "what if God controlled the day-to-day decisionmaking and guided what this ministry becomes."

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Our greatest joys come when the miraculous happens, in spite of us. When we pull of the "impossible task" because we trusted God. When the money for support just "shows up" in the mailbox when that unexpected bill could wait no longer. When our bodies seem unable to "take another step" yet run the additional "champions mile" after the race has finished.

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A dancer in Ballet Magnificat shared with me the other night that he didn't start dancing until he was 23 years old. He was a successful, careered Mechanical Engineer when God told him that He was going to use him in dance. He laughed, probably in the way Noah did when God instructed him to build an ark in the desert. Or when Abraham was told he would father a son at close to a hundred. We laugh at these improbabilities because we view and interpret them according to our own understanding and abilities. I guess that's the problem we face in describing a star while sitting here on earth. Our vantage point is limited. But God's is not. And since it's not, shouldn't we ask Him what He sees, or how He see's it?

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It's going to require a retraining. We have to apply the breaks now and then as we run from task to task. It's going to demand that we hold to some sort of accountability to make sure that we have consulted God in the things we do. It's probably going to be hard.

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Here's the thing. If your doing ministry and it is stagnant or overly simple, then I suspect that you've been refraining from "thinking out side of your box." dependency on God is how He chooses to strengthen our faith. And Faith begins where your Abilities end. If you are depending soley on your abilities, then I am doubtful that you have any reliance on faith in your ministry. And it's there, in the realm of faith, that the miraculous will occur.

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Don't count on yourself for making miracles happen. God alone performs miracles when we rely on our faith in Him to become demonstrative in our ministry.