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Are We Willing

by Jerry Ousley  
1/09/2010 / Christian Living

Willingness means that we want to. When God prodded my heart to write I was more than willing. It was something that had always held my interest. When God moved upon me to preach I was willing because I love to talk and what better topic than the Bible? When God put it in my heart to begin an internet ministry I was thrilled because the computer and electronic communication was right up my alley.

But when the duties of ministry called on me to dedicate children, baptize believers, perform wedding ceremonies, and speak at funerals, I wasn't so willing. You see, I'm not big on ceremonies. Over the years God has given me grace to use these occasions as a witnessing tool, though it be ever so gentle. During those times we are most concerned about the significance of that ceremony. The dedication of the child is a promise made by parents to bring them up in the way they should go. When a new convert is baptized it signifies what Christ has done in their lives and that the old man is dead and buried and the new man has taken his place. The wedding ceremony is a promise and an oath before God and witnesses that each will forsake all others and will pledge their love until death parts the couple. And finally, the funeral service is a statement of the person's life and an opportunity for the speaker to share what the deceased would most likely have to say if they could stand before the room of mourners.

I have come to realize the tool of witnessing in these ceremonies. I don't flaunt the gospel but attempt to weave it into the ceremony in hopes that those involved and those witnessing will hear something that will make them think and turn to God. But it wasn't always like that. Early in my service for the Lord I hated ceremonies. I felt awkward officiating over them. I'd stumble in my words, or say the wrong things. On two different occasions when doing weddings when I made the announcement at the end "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time I present to you Mr. and Mrs. " I used the bride's last name instead of the groom's. That was embarrassing. These and many other errors stemmed from the fact that I was very nervous.

I still get nervous when standing before people when conducting a ceremony. I push my reluctance aside and do what has to be done, but I'm not really willing.

Being willing makes all the difference in the world. As we began, it means that whatever it is we are being called upon to do, we want to do it. Doing something because we want to instead of because we have to can very well determine our success. The nation of Israel had a long history in the Bible of failing God. They did the unthinkable: They fell on many occasions into worshipping false gods. The Lord would make them prosperous and they would grow lax in their relationship with Him and before they knew it they had built an altar to a pagan deity, sometimes after God had helped them conquer the enemy. They would praise the Lord for giving them the victory, then take the gods of their enemy and worship them. Doesn't that seem like a stupid thing to do?

Why would they do such a thing? It was because they weren't really willing to serve God. In their hearts they really wanted to be like their neighboring nations and serve the false gods they served. They wanted to fit in. They didn't want to stand out because they served an invisible God although He was the real and one true God. They weren't willing.

After the Israeli's had conquered the Promised Land under the command of Joshua, he called them together and addressed this very thing. In Joshua 24:14-15 he told them to make a choice. They could choose to serve the false gods of the land of Egypt from which God had delivered them; they could choose to serve the pagan images of those they had conquered, or they could serve the Lord God who had given them the victory. Then Joshua said, "But as for me and my family, we are going to serve the Lord." He was willing and he stood before them all and told them so.

So what of us? Are we willing? The great God of Heaven has given us a choice. We can pretend to serve Him and go through the motions, doing all the right things but not really being willing to serve Him. Or, we can make up our minds that we are going to serve Him, not because we have to but because that's what we really want to do. What's in our hearts will surface someday. Are you willing?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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