You ever see someone come back from an injury too quickly?
The player suffered the injury and it put him out of the game for a long time. Everyone was keen for him to make a full recovery, but the medical team and the coach depended on the player to be truthful in sharing the rate of his recovery before assessing him to return to the game. Understandably, with the frustration of missing the game, he’ll say anything to get back in the game and perhaps work too hard. He’ll make the appearance to play for the side and then he’ll break down. At worse he can experience a recurrence of the injury.
Sometimes, being involved in ministry you can suffer an injury. A personal flaw or failing can emerge that threatens the integrity of your ministry. It’s actually a good thing that these things emerge because the alternative is that they remain under the radar and actually corrupt what’s going on. Left undetected it could mount up to substantial pain caused to a number of people and particularly you. So it being exposed s a good thing.
Once it’s exposed, the injury is set for the healing remedy of the grace of God in our lives. Receiving the necessary care and attention from those who are spiritual who are able to restore you, healing is available. It might call for strong words and tough assignments of repentance, but it’s worthwhile. Conducted in the right context of love and support, over time healing can be experienced.
Important aspects of the healing process, however, are humility, obedience, submission and trust. Those qualities will never lead the individual to rush back into action. Sure, the ministry is important as we’re all called to serve. Yet we are called to serve from a place of understanding who we are as servants of God and as children of God. As children we’re ever acknowledging our place is looking up to the Father. As servants of God we’re ever acknowledging our place is to only follow what we’re instructed by the Lord. If He has not instructed us, we are in danger of recurring injury looking to get back in action before He instructs us.
Those qualities – humility, obedience, submission and trust – places all our efforts and hopes in the hands of Jesus. When we fall, we don’t rush to rise up by ourselves. Rather we understand that elevation only comes from Him. He is able to raise us up from whatever fall we experience – and He does this through His grace as we humble ourselves obediently before Him submitting ourselves to Him and trusting Him to do what is right in His sight.
In essence – He does the raising when we fall. Let’s trust Him on that so that we will be rightly restored to serve again.
(Photo by Matt Holmes on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 