The Apprentice

The Apprentice

Work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Romans 12:11

As a friend and I talked over lunch, our discussion turned to the e-mail request I’d sent out with respect to meeting a local need. The response was generous and immediate—it seemed that everyone just needed a little nudge, needed someone to take charge and make the suggestion. But still, it bothered me that no one else had acted in the first place to take up the cause.

As we talked about the lack of initiative but the enthusiastic response to the invitation, we wrestled with why so many people don’t simply act when they see a need instead of waiting to be invited along. Fear of failure, fear that they’ll accidentally offend someone—she and I named a variety of thoughts that might cause someone to stand still rather than move toward a need.

The fact of the matter is that Christians are called to movement, not to status quo and complacency. Serving God invariably means serving people, and that calls us to step forward and step up, especially when others are reluctant to do so. We are in apprenticeship—discipleship—under Jesus as we learn to live and love according to his example set forth in Scripture.

It’s important to understand that apprentices don’t learn solely by reading and listening, but also by doing—by mimicking the master’s movements, making mistakes, being corrected, and trying again. Electricians do not become masters of the trade by watching videos or reading manuals alone. They learn under the careful tutelage of a professional, in a personal relationship consisting of encouragement and correction. And isn’t that the way we learn to serve God—through a personal relationship with Christ? A relationship in which reading Scripture is our vital instruction and in which we are also called to action?

Once we start practicing living out the teachings of Christ, it becomes easier and easier to initiate the e-mail, to be the first voice raised either in petition or defense, to be the first person to reach out a hand. We are called to work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically, and being the person who steps up first and invites others to follow along is part of that mandate.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

When you see a need, invite others to help meet it instead of being the person invited to join in.