Grace for God-given assignments
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
The seriousness with which an assignment is treated depends on who the master is. This shows the respect accorded to the master and the satisfaction and prestige that comes with achieving for that master. Assignments from lesser masters will all be dropped in order to give priority to assignments from the greater master – partly because of the prestige and partly because the greater master facilitates and pays better. As much as this applies to our business and political affairs today, it applies similarly in the Kingdom of God. All mature Christians ought to recognize that they have mandatory God-given assignments.
Baptism is a sacrament in which, by repentance and faith we enter into God’s salvation: we are united with Christ in His death; we are granted the forgiveness of sins; we are raised with Him to new life in the Spirit.
In Confirmation, we come to be filled with the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands and to be strengthened with His for worship, witness and service, as mature Christians.
We need the Holy Spirit to carry out any God-given assignment successfully. The theme of this year is ‘Take this child away, and nurse him for me’ (Exod 2:9), drawn from the story of Moses’ childhood. One thing I tend to believe is that Moses’ mother must have taken extra care in raising this boy because the assignment was beyond her being that natural mother; the assignment was from the Palace – from the princess, who also promised to pay her wages. She was raising a prince! By divine extension, she was actually raising a prince for the Kingdom of God. He went to Pharaoh’s palace and was equipped for great deliverance assignments; but when he tried to do the work, he was overcome by fear and the laws of the land; he was not yet sufficiently empowered. He ended up in exile in Midian. There he would later have a life-changing encounter with God; this was the empowerment Moses needed to overcome the Egyptian powers.
As for the disciples that Jesus commissioned to be witnesses, they too required an encounter with God in order to be sufficiently empowered for the assignment. Jesus expressly instructed them not to leave Jerusalem until they “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come”. They received this encounter on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit’s power drove them to evangelize the world, the odds notwithstanding.
Two truths remain: Every mature Christian has an assignment from God and ought to receive and perform it with enthusiasm. Secondly, we need the Holy Spirit’s power to be able to perform any God-given assignment. Sometimes we are lost for direction and other time we are discouraged, but with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, you are sure to perform that effectively.
God bless you all.