VOLUNTEERS?

“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

Iremember a story my dad once told about one of his first few days in the Army. The commanding officer asked for volunteers among the new draftees to serve as firemen. A few interested hands went up.

My dad, however, did not raise his hand. He remembered a piece of advice from a friend, “In boot camp, never volunteer for anything.”

It turned out to be good advice. The firemen were soldiers who got up an hour before everyone else to put coal in the stoves to heat the barracks. It was a cold and dirty job.

In Isaiah 6, the prophet tells of a time when God appeared to him. In fear and awe, Isaiah volunteered to go to God’s people with His message.

Surely there were times along the way when Isaiah regretted the job for which he volunteered. It was often unpleasant because Isaiah had to scold the Israelites for their unfaithfulness to God. He had to deliver a message of repentance and, sometimes, judgment. That did not make him a very popular person.

I wonder if Isaiah would have volunteered for the job if he had known what it would later entail? Or would the glory of God he had witnessed outshine any shadow of difficulty ahead?

What about you? Will you risk ridicule to shine His light in a world content with darkness? Even now God asks the question, “Whom shall I send?”

Will you say to an awesome, loving God, “Send me”?

Lord, may I say “yes” to you in everything you ask. I believe your way and your message are the best. Amen.

Go Deeper — Read Romans 8:18 and consider that God’s higher purpose is greater than any hardship we may encounter here on earth.

Gaining Better Vision

If you want to see clearly, ask God to help you see from His perspective.

Matthew 7:1-8

You may have seen videos on the internet of babies receiving their first pair of glasses. They fuss and fight a little as the frames are being put on, but almost instantly, they stop and stare. Things that were previously blobs of color suddenly have defined shapes. Their parents’ faces, once fuzzy, become clear. Their smiles tell you everything you need to know about the gift of vision.

In a similar way, clear spiritual sight is vital for believers, and it involves learning to see as the Lord sees. This requires a shift in our perspective, and today’s passage provides a practical blueprint for learning to discern with the eyes of Christ: “Do not judge” (v. 1). True understanding begins with an awareness of our sins so we can “take the log out” (v. 5) from our own eye and see ourselves and others for what we truly are—forgiven and beloved daughters and sons.

1 Samuel 16:7 tells us that God doesn’t see as man does. Seeing with the eyes of Christ means searching beyond surface appearances and asking the Spirit to help us look more deeply into the heart of things. Jesus truly saw people—He recognized their brokenness and compassionately sought their good. May we be willing to do the same. Learning to view others as God does is the joyous labor of a lifetime, and the rewards for doing so are great.

Jesus Lifts Us Up

After crying out and convulsing him terribly, [the unclean spirit] came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

Mark 9:26–27

There is no one whom Jesus cannot help.

In Mark 9, we read about Jesus’ interaction with a child who had long been possessed by an unclean spirit. The boy’s predicament had been his lot since he was young. He could neither speak nor hear. When the demon took him, it threw him down, causing him to foam at the mouth, grind his teeth, and become rigid (Mark 9:18). This young man was caught in a dreadful circumstance, essentially trapped inside his body, unable to hear any words of comfort that may have come to him from his father, family, or friends, unable to give voice to his pain and fear. His life was marred by the attempted distortion and destruction of the image of God that he bore.

In the face of such a hopeless situation, Jesus intervened, giving a divine word of rebuke to the evil spirit. Through such a powerful rebuke, Christ drew out the enemy’s powerless rage, and the evil spirit, having done its worst, left the boy as though dead. And then Jesus raised him up.

This is what Jesus does. He takes people whose lives are decimated—those who are en route to destruction—and He does what only He can do: He enters that life, takes the person by the hand, lifts them up… and they stand.

Jesus is the only one who can truly say, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). He is the only one who can take someone who seems absolutely helpless and completely unable to effect change in themselves, and give them new life.

So today, Jesus comes to you and says, Why don’t you just bring your burdens to Me? You can’t educate yourself out of pain and sorrows. Therapy won’t give you lasting answers for all your hurt and confusion. Truly, it’s good that you know you can’t do this on your own. Bring your burdens to Me.

Not only that, but He can come to others through you. There is no one you will meet today who does not need Jesus’ help, and no one whom Jesus cannot help. However bright someone’s life looks, there is normally regret and anxiety under the surface, and there is always the sin that is slowly dragging each of us to destruction—unless and until Jesus intervenes. When you learn to see those around you in this way, you long to share Christ with them; for there is no one whom Jesus cannot help.