"I feel useless!" the retired minister confided.
"Why don't you let us minister you, instead of you ministering to us?" I gently reminded him.
"Surely, I cannot sit there just listening and not exercise my gifts?" he said.
I knew what he said was more of frustration rather than bitterness, but this whole incident got me thinking.
Are we only productive when we serve, serve, and serve in church?
Some of us actually believe that we are called to give and give, and others are to receive and benefit from what we offer. Somehow we feel it is wrong to receive any ministry back.
Yes, it is difficult to just sit there listening to others preach, teach, or share, because we've got — at least in our minds — "better" insights. If we are honest, we sometimes can hear ourselves thinking. "I, too, would prefer to do many things myself because my method is far superior, and God forbid that anyone else should do it differently because 'I do it the right way.'"
Somewhere in this balance of serving and needing to be served in the church family, we must realize that none of us is super-human; we are all actually vulnerable and we should let others minister to us.
Even a fantastic apostle like Paul accepted care and help from those he served. Despite being able to say, "I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need ..." he had to also add, "But even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty" (Philippians 4:13-17 NLT).
We are only successful and useful in the Lord's ministry when we and those we are called to serve, become dependent on each other and our mutual ministry to each other!
