What We Are Called to Do.

          Good reading today that reminds me and convicts me deeply about what God calls us to do once we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Paul really hits it home with this little statement out of Acts.

Acts 20:25 "Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.  26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.  27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.  

          Paul said, that his is innocent of their blood, because he did not hesitate to proclaim the Word of God.  If we turn this on ourselves then the question becomes, whose blood are we guilty of because we withheld the Word of God because of our own fear of others in what they would say or do?  I know really convicting and it should be when we are not doing the will of God.  

OK, but I am not that strong of a person and I could never do that.  We do not have to do it on our own.  Joseph said it well in the passages in Genesis that I was reading today.  The Pharaoh had asked if Joseph could interpret his dreams for him and Joseph answered him:

Genesis 41:16 "I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires."

We do not do this on our own, but we are still called to do it nonetheless.  God is with us through the Holy Spirit and will guide us as long as we put our trust in Him.  We are also part of a community in the church so we have each other to fall back on and support as well.  Paul goes on in Acts to say this:

Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.  29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.  30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.  31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

          As servants of God we take on a lot and have some tough and serious work to do here in this world, but the reward on the other side is going to far over shadow anything we have ever been through here.  None of it we will ever deserve, but how much less will we deserve it if we have never lifted a hand to help out others?  I do believe all that profess Christ as Lord and Savior will go to Heaven, but I also believe that we will have to answer for our actions in this world as Christians.  What worries me is how am I going to be able to answer that one.  Good news is that I still have a chance to work much harder at following God’s will in our lives.  At least I hope I still have time.  How about you?