“And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14 ESV).
Part of my library assistant duties includes monitoring student library aides. Last year, one student in particular stood out. Once she learned the daily tasks, she would start them on her own. At the end of the school year, I complemented her ability to take initiative, to do things without being asked. I told her taking initiative in work, especially when it comes to a job, is a quality that stands out from the crowd.
My church’s head elder recently gave a message on this very topic but in regards to working for God. As Christians, we must take initiative to work for God. We cannot wait for an angel or audible voice from God give us directions. We must rely on our study of scripture and experience in church to help us take initiative to fulfill “urgent need” which includes not only helping people who are destitute but also meeting the needs of our church.
After our church service one Sabbath, some of us were talking and although the lights were off and the doors locked a woman came up and knocked on the door. Our church is fairly large and I thought perhaps she had forgotten something. As it turns out, she and her family had attended church elsewhere. They recently moved to the area and were on the hunt for a new church home and stopped by to check us out. Whose job was it to talk to her? To let her in? Someone had to open that door and help her or she would have left with a very poor opinion of us, our church, and potentially the God we serve.
Taking initiative for your church means you are willing to offer your time as a sacrifice in addition to your money and offerings to God. It means you are going to look for opportunities to do good works and help, not just sit back and be satisfied that someone else will take care of it. Obviously each person has a different life and different amounts of time they can give but if you find yourself unwilling to give any time or to never be interrupted for God then perhaps you may wish to reevaluate your timesheet. You make time for what is important to you. I encourage you today to open your heart and your time to take initiative for God’s work. You will be blessed!