Thought for the Day – Thursday 3rd September
‘I think it is necessary to
send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker and fellow
soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my
needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you
heard he was ill. Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on
him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon
sorrow. Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when
you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. So then,
welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honour people like
him, because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to
make up for the help you yourselves could not give me. (Philippians 2: 25-30)
It
is often said, ask for a volunteer when a job needs doing and the chances are
you will be wasting your time. Just think of all the Stated Annual Meetings we
have had where when we get to the point of asking for volunteers to serve on
the Board or an a wee committee for a short time and the floor becomes the most
fascinating thing in the building!
Amazingly
though, if you ask a person face-to-face there is every chance a different
response would be forthcoming. It seems that if we are ‘put on the spot’ we
find it surprisingly difficult to say ‘No’ – in fact some of us find it
virtually impossible to say ‘No’ don’t we?
Maybe
that saying ‘if you want something done ask a busy person’ is true!
However….what
this saying does not really add is that sometimes by asking a busy person to
take on just one more task, means that that task may just prove to be ‘the
straw that breaks the camel’s back’! By the way if you are one of those people
who takes on even more jobs or responsibilities or demands on your time even
when you know you are already flagging under what you are already doing then do
take heed!
Epaphroditus
was such a man – he clearly took on too much and it almost cost him his life. I
suppose we could say he learned the hard way that we all have our limitations
and it is not wise or clever or sometimes truly appreciated to push ourselves
beyond them.
As
Christians called to serve our Lord, we do want to serve him and it may seem
the right thing to say yes all the time.
Yet,
if that saying yes to everything results in our health suffering, as it
obviously did for Epaphroditus, if it causes the happiness of our loved ones to
be endangered, if it prevents us from fulfilling the responsibilities we
already have and as we would want to fulfil them – then perhaps it is time we
did learn to say ‘No’ on occasions.
As
Christians we each have been given gifts and talents by our God, and yes, all
of us are called to serve and all of us can do something …..but none of us can
do everything and none of us are called to do everything – that is exactly why
we all have different gifts and talents!!
Prayer
Loving
Lord,
Remind
us of our call to serve you, but make us mindful also of the need at times to say
‘No’ to serving because of the implications of that added service to our loved
ones, ourselves and our mental and physical well-being. Give us an awareness of
our gifts and talents and how we might use them for your work, but may we
always remember that we can all do something but none of us are called to do
everything. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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