"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" -- Isaiah 6:8
I am a person filled with excuses. Good ones, too. I can come up with an excuse to not do just about anything. I'm not so good when it comes to thinking up excuses to do something. But I sure know how to tell someone else what they should do. What? You don't relate? Come on now! I know better.
Pastor Gary laughed recently about how everyone expects the preachers and church staff to do everything alone. We want the preacher to do the visiting and the praying. We want the staff to do the teaching and the organizing. We want someone else to answer phones and questions, to open and close the church building, even to make the coffee and serve the donuts. What's our job in all this? To be the cheerleaders of course!
Yeah. We all laughed too. It seems kind of ridiculous. Pastor Gary gave an example of the Braves fielding Bobby Cox and the other coaches rather than the players. Of course, there wouldn't be enough coaches to fill all the positions. They'd have to pull in a few people from the stands. That would leave the players -- all those super-talented people -- sitting on the bench watching. Kind of like us sometimes.
Pastor Gary is right. Jesus didn't call a single rabbi or priest to be a disciple. He called lay people. Jesus called everyday people, such as fishermen and tax collectors. He called people like me and you to serve Him and to do His work. So where in the world did we get the idea it's okay to sit on the sidelines while someone else ministers to His flock?
In this scripture, God selected Isaiah to serve Him. Isaiah didn't feel worthy or qualified either. But God cleansed Isaiah with forgiveness just as Jesus has cleansed us. Jesus made us worthy and called us to serve Him. That's the only reason we need to go forth and do His will.
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