Day 11 | God Doesn’t Need You—He Wants You

Matthew 9:37

One of the quiet miracles in every healthy church is when ordinary people have the revelation that God has invited them into participation in labor for His House. 

One of the most humbling things in the Christian life is knowing that there isn’t a single aspect where God needs us. I know it sounds harsh at first because everyone wants to be “needed”, but this should actually fill us with such joy and excitement. When you’re desperate, your standards lower for what you’ll accept. But because God is never in need, every selection He makes is out of desire. This means that if God, in all His power and sovereignty, wanted to - He could build the Church all by Himself. Yet, for some reason that I still can’t figure out, He chooses very imperfect people to participate in this beautiful work He is doing in all the earth.

I know that serving and building the church gets a bad rap, but the truth is that every person on earth has been created to be part of a local church. 

If God is building His Church and we are the Church, then that means every person has a gift and a grace to impact a local church.

And the beauty of this laboring we are called to is that it’s meant to increase our joy, not diminish it. In our serving, building and working, we operate in the very purpose for which we have been made using the gifts that are irrevocable. And it’s also how we grow. Most people don’t mature by sitting in a seat. They mature by shouldering responsibility and discovering that God works through them.

So today we pray for willing hearts.

Not pressured hands. Not guilt-driven participation. But joyful servants who see building God’s church as a joy, not a burden. People who step forward with availability and trust that God will meet them with grace as they do.