Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Busyness”
Our Bible verse for today: “He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Matthew 15:24 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “God has called you to do some things, but He has not called you to do everything.”
In Matthew 15:21-28 we read about the faith of a Canaanite woman who came to Jesus pleading with Him to cast a demon out of her young daughter. Amazingly Jesus said “no”. He explained that casting demons out of gentile girls was not His mission. He told her that He had been sent by God to minister to the lost sheep of Israel. But the woman pleaded with Him all the more, even argued with Him! Jesus then reversed course and cast the demon out of the girl as the mother had requested.
It’s a confusing passage for many reasons, especially since we know that Jesus was sent for more than just the Jews. He was sent to make salvation possible for all mankind. Bible scholars debate what we should take away from this passage. For one thing we should certainly be impressed with the faith and boldness of the Canaanite woman.
But I think there’s another lesson in this too, one that pertains to our own theme of busyness. Jesus knew exactly what He was supposed to be doing, and He also knew what He was not supposed to be doing. His ministry was to be focused in Israel on the Jews. That was the starting place. Later His followers would expand the reach of Christianity beyond Israel and out into the gentile world, but it was others who were to do that, not Jesus Himself.
There’s a lesson in that for us. God has called you to do some things, but He has not called you to do everything. Many of us seem to think it is our responsibility to try to do everything. But the truth is that God has called you and equipped you to do some things, and then He has called and equipped others to do things that you are not called and equipped to do.
This is a liberating truth. Once we understand the things that are our responsibility it frees us to say “no” to things that rightly belong to someone else. And you do need to say “no” to the things that are not yours. If you don’t, others will gladly let you do your work and theirs as well.
It is true that if others are not doing their part, and if you don’t then do it for them, there are some things that might not get done. That’s unfortunate. But it’s also true that if you keep doing for others what they should be doing themselves, you will get overwhelmed and burned out and ineffective. So you need to stay focused on what does belong to you and let God deal with those people who might be shirking their responsibilities.
There’s an old Hungarian saying that goes “Not my circus, not my monkeys”. It means that not everything is your responsibility. While it is true that sometimes it is your circus and those are your monkeys, it’s also true that it is just as often not the case. So when it is somebody else’s circus you need to let them be the ringmaster, let them coral those monkeys. Then you can sit back and relax, eat popcorn, and enjoy the show.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 