Photo by Mike González @ pexels.com
Several years ago, my friend Luke McElroy, the founder of the annual SALT Conference for church techs and creatives, wrote a leadership book and memoir called “Creative Potential.”
As I was recently reviewing the notes I made from when I first read his book, one small section at the beginning stood out and really hit me in a new way.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the job I have at my ministry, and how there are good days and bad days, ups and downs, things I like and things I wish were different…perhaps no different than how many others see their role in ministry at places all around the globe.
...I have to keep reminding myself that the role I have isn’t full encompassed in a job.
But I have to keep reminding myself that the role I have isn’t full encompassed in a job. Working (or even serving) in ministry is a calling, something that goes way beyond responsibilities and a paycheck.
It’s a willing choice to lay down my own agenda and desires to serve at the behest of the One who saved me. My accepting a call to serve in ministry I’m essentially telling God that I’m here at His pleasure, for however long He’ll have me, in whatever role He sees fit to best advance His kingdom.
And sometimes that’s hard, because there are things I wish were different, or things I’d prefer to change, or outcomes I’d like to have more control over.
As Luke pointed out in a brief passage early in his book, Moses was likely in a similar place when God called him to “ministry” also.
In Exodus 4:2-4 (NIV), the passage reads:
Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.
What’s important to realize in this passage is that this wasn’t simply God doing a miracle for Moses to show his incredible power. God was using the moment as a symbol to show Moses what He wanted to do in Moses’ own life.
Maybe we’re holding on so tight because we’re afraid of change that we simply want to control as many variables as we can.
We know that Moses was a shepherd in the wilderness, and in those days, his staff would have been a key representation of several things in his life. It could be used as a weapon for protection and security, to beat off predators or scavengers that threatened him or his flock.
It also would have been used to help steer the sheep directionally, meaning Moses always had to have it with him everywhere he went, since there’s no telling when he would have to use it. That staff would have been so omnipresent that anyone seeing it would have instantly known he was a shepherd; the staff was a critical part of his identity and reputation.
When God called Moses, He wanted him to lay those things down.
“Yes, Moses, I know that your staff represents security and identity, but I want you to lay it down for Me,” I could imagine God explaining. “I need you to lay down what you are holding onto and the things that you control so you can learn to fully trust what I am capable of doing in your life. I will never call you to something and then not provide for, protect, or empower you to do that very thing.”
While those words are my interpretation of what God could have said to Moses, there are passages like that all throughout the Bible that we now have for our benefit, yet Moses did not.
In that moment, God was asking him to do a pivotal thing: to lay down his identity and security, the things he was capable of controlling, and step out in faith to an unknown future and calling with God.
When he was able to lay his staff down, God’s power came alive. Moses was able to see firsthand what God was able to do. All he had to do was lay down his own identity and desire for control.
And as soon as he picked his staff back up, it turned from a living, powerful thing into a dead stick once again.
I wonder how many of us are facing a similar situation.
Our life in ministry may have at some point become just a job or a role or a title. Maybe there are predictable rhythms that allow us to get comfortable and we’ve stopped being comfortable with growing and stretching.
Maybe we’ve been in a position so long that it’s formed a cocoon of security and identity around us. We see ourselves as that role and become threatened whenever people or circumstances rock the boat. Maybe we’re holding on so tight because we’re afraid of change that we simply want to control as many variables as we can.
However, as long as we grip that identity firmly in our hands, it’s nothing more than a dead stick. Yes, it can be productive and serve a useful purpose by providing security and protection and identity, like Moses’ staff. But there’s no life. There’s no vibrance. There’s no Spirit inside bringing it to life and making it a dynamic, powerful thing.
When we lay down our lives (not just our roles) and allow God to use us as vessels for His service, powerful miracles can happen through us. We are capable of doing and becoming so much more than we ever could have on our own.
But it won’t happen without us first laying something down.
What’s interesting is that when God first turned Moses’ staff into a snake, Moses’ initial reaction was to run in fear. Sometimes new things can be scary, and we can run because we simply aren’t sure what’s going to happen. There’s instability, questions, and uncertainty, and sometimes those things make us want to run from the moment and go back to the predictable certainty we’d been living in.
But Moses was able to follow God’s direction and reassurance.
“You can run from My power and My plan,” God might have said, “and you can go back and grab your own life if you want. But once you see what I’m capable of, if you can trust Me, I’ll never leave you and will do greater things through you than you could ever do on your own.”
Later on in the Israelites’ journey, Moses turned this idea into a prayer.
In Exodus 33:15 (NIV), “Moses said to him, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.’”
“God,” Moses could have prayed, “I know what I’m capable of on my own, and I know what You are capable of doing. You’ve asked me to do something great, which I know I can’t do in my own power. But if You are with me, then I know we can do this.”
I remember when I first stepped into a ministry calling 15 years ago, I was scared out of my mind, because I knew I was in over my head. But I recall thinking that sometimes God puts us in places over our head simply so we have no choice but to rely on Him to be successful, and so He gets all the glory and praise.
It’s easy for ministry to just become a task or a role or a job. It’s more than that; it’s a calling. And God doesn’t call us just to leave us to fend for ourselves. When He calls us, He will empower and equip us to do all that He has asked us to do.
But we can’t step into the power and promise of that calling if we’re still holding onto our lives, trying to control our identity and future.
It only comes when, like Moses, I’m able to lay those things down.
