Passing Of The Mantle

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Luke 10:2, NIV

The passing of the mantle is a normal activity in the plan of God. Moses passed the mantle to Joshua. Elijah passed the mantle to Elisha.

The first year that I was a senior pastor, I spent a few months leading worship. I wanted to set an example for others who would lead worship, but I am not especially gifted in that area. It was important to me that we started the service with high energy, so I made a habit of enthusiastically welcoming everyone to church.

One morning I stepped up on the platform, smiled, and with great exuberance said, “Welcome this morning to church. I am thrilled that you have chosen to join us. Now, please stand and worship me this morning!”

I only forgot the one little word—with—but it completely changed the meaning of my sentence and the atmosphere of the church. The crowd just froze and stared at me for a second with shocked looks on their faces. I am sure some of them were thinking, What is up with this young pastor? Is he really this proud? At that point, I realized what I had done and began to laugh. I knew there was nothing else I could do. What was I going to do—explain what I really meant? Once I started laughing, everyone else joined me.

After a couple of minutes, I tried to start the service again, but we erupted into laughter again. It took us a full twenty minutes to recover from that one silly misstatement.

In all our imperfection, we are Jesus’ ambassadors. We are the ones to whom he has passed the mantle. He has entrusted us with the most important message on earth. He trusts us, not because of our talent but because he has put his Spirit in us.

Lord, show me what legacy I am to pass on to others.