Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Double Duty

Serving home, serving the church. We get to do both. We need to do both. We're called to do both. You can't throw one out in favor of the other. How do we do it? There is no simple answer for what appears to be a simple question...

...but here are a few guidelines to help us sort it all out.

1. Keep first things first. Titus 2 tells us to be keepers at home, to love our husbands and our children. We cannot renege on that commitment. We cannot allow other areas of service to commandeer our time. If the home-front is disorderly from lack of attention or if our husbands and children are neglected something is wrong, seriously wrong. Go back to square one and start again, re-prioritizing as you go.

2. If God has called you to a specific service for the church, be it nursery or office help or providing meals, He will provide the time and energy needed. If your week is constantly too short and you're burning the candle at both ends and paying for it (along with the rest of your household) you need to figure out where the problem lies. Something is robbing you of precious resources. If He has asked you to do something, whether at home or at church, He will provide what you need to accomplish the task - so if you're coming up short it is safe to say that you've probably taken on something that is not His will. Once again, drop back, pray and seek His will, then re-prioritize accordingly.

3. If you are totally uninvolved with any service outside your own doorstep you ought to examine where your time and energy are being invested, then redirect some of those valuable resources to serving your local church. If possible (there are certainly seasons when we cannot do this), cut back on something around the house. It requires sacrifice, but your children will learn to cheerfully give beyond just their finances if they see Mom and Dad giving of time and energy regularly. They will learn to serve. They will learn that serving costs us something, but they will also learn that God rewards generously. You can never out-give God.

4. Allow yourself to be stretched on both fronts. We are enlarged as we step out in faith, both at home on behalf of our husbands and children, and in the local church on behalf of our brethren. Let God make you into something more than you are today. He is able!

Serving home, serving the church. They are not mutually exclusive.

We get to do both.

2 Comments:

Blogger michelle said...

Thank you. It seems balancing both is quite the task!

3:56 PM  
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