I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
{Philippians 1:6}
I’m an amateur eavesdropper. I often work in coffee shops where conversations swirl around me as thick as the scent of espresso. Most of the time I’m able to tune them out but sometimes one makes my head snap up from my laptop. I’ve heard scandalous confessions of love, details of doctor’s appointments and workplace complaints of all sorts. This morning I found myself the recipient of some unsolicited wisdom.
A young man and his mentor sat next to me talking about faith. Apparently they’ve been meeting awhile because the young man asked, “When am I going to be ready to help someone else?”
The mentor paused and then answered, “I think you’re asking the wrong question. Because as long as you ask ‘Am I ready?’ then you’ll always be able to find a reason you’re not. A flaw. A struggle. Something you think you need to learn more about. The better question to ask is, ‘Have I received something?’ If so, then you have something to share. When is the best time to start passing it on? Yesterday.”
I looked over for a second just to be sure he wasn’t talking to me. Because I have wondered this as well. Haven’t we all? Here is a secret of faith I’m learning: We never feel qualified. We never feel like professionals. We never feel like we’ve got it together enough to really make a difference. And maybe this is a good thing. Because the only folks who seem to have believed otherwise were the Pharisees.
God is not looking for perfect examples. He is looking for ordinary people willing to just love one another. He is calling the messy, the broken and the incomplete. This is good news for all of us. It means our role is not to show off; it’s just to show up. He will give to us and then He’ll give through us. We’re simply asked to be willing and brave enough to do it as we are and not as we’d like to be.
My heart needed to hear all of this today. Maybe yours did too. Perhaps sometime we’ll run into each other at a coffee shop and we can talk it over. And when we’re done, I’ll try very hard not to eavesdrop on you.
This post is an excerpt from my new devotional Strong, Brave, Loved: Empowering Reminders of Who You Really Are. It released last week, and your kind words of encouragement as you share about the book online have meant a lot to me. I’m grateful for you!
Have you added your name to the Waiting List for the {free} Online Bible Study that I’ll be hosting? I’d love for you to join us. Learn more about the Study here!
Today’s More than Small Talk podcast episode is about loving broken leaders. Join us for an honest, timely conversation about why so many leaders seem to be burning out or giving up (and why you could too) as well as how we can all help each other.
