Exodus 36:1 “So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded.”

People are accepted as disciples because they have native ability and potential, and the same is true of disciples of Christ. The problem is, we confuse ability with being worthy, and since none of us is worthy to be a disciple of Christ, we think we lack the ability as well. Actually, the Lord gifts every human being with assorted abilities, but the majority of those remain merely potential until we commit ourselves to be trained as disciples. The thrust of this verse is entirely simple and straightforward: if God has given you the ability, do the work! In the Church, those who fail to do the work fall into two categories. The first is those who honestly don’t know they are able, which as I said, often comes from an awareness of unworthiness. The second is those who are simply lazy and self-centered. There’s a real irony to the second category, because nothing is more satisfying and fulfilling than exercising the gifts God has given us in serving Him, seeing His will done through our hands. The first group misses out on this too, but they don’t do so out of selfish motives. We have such trouble really believing that God always has our best interests in mind in everything He tells us to do! The better we know God and His love, the more eager we will be to do everything He tells us.

I’ve had my difficulties in this area just like everyone else, but at least I was raised by parents that I could be confident that everything they asked of me was for my good. That’s a good foundation for trusting God, which is a major reason parents need to keep close watch over their motives in how they deal with their children. As a pastor, I am spiritual father to many, so I need to be especially careful of my motives. Physical age bears only a passing connection to spiritual age, and I have trusting infants, “terrible twos,” growing youngsters, rebellious teenagers, and a few solid adults. That’s quite a challenge! I know I don’t have sufficient wisdom or even stamina for the task in myself, but I also know from experience that God supplies everything necessary for anything He calls us to do. He has started us on a program of discipleship training, and I need to seek Him earnestly for each step, so that each believer in this church may be matured into a trustworthy disciple, for the sake of the kingdom of God and for His glory.

Father, thank You for the start we could make yesterday. I don’t feel like my delivery of the message was as smooth as sometimes, but that’s a good reminder that I can’t do this in my own strength anyway. I do pray that each of us, me included, would receive Your Word day by day, understand and apply it, so that we may be built up individually and corporately to be fully available and useful to You in this city and this nation, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!