What Do You Want Me to Do?

Then they asked Him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent" (Jn. 6:28)

 



Most of us who love God and who want to serve Him will ask sooner or later:  "What do You want me to do?"  We want to be 'of service' to God, but have no clue how that might come about.  Anything we have to offer Him is negligible in terms of what the world actually needs. 

 

I have written this before, but it bears repeating here.  Once, when I was praying, I said to God, "I just want to be useful to You."  In my spirit, there followed a profound silence, what literature often calls "a pregnant pause."  Then, I actually heard a roaring laughter coming from God.  I started laughing out loud too, because I immediately saw 'the big picture,' so to speak.  I had a mental image of a 2-year-old child pushing a chair up to the sink and saying, "I help you wash dishes, Mommy." 

 

Of course, then Mommy has to stop what she is doing and wants to finish doing, to make preparations for the child's 'help.'  Dangerous knives and glasses have to be removed, and plastic dishes substituted.  The chair has to be secured in a non-slip position, and the child's sleeves rolled up.  Then, Mommy has to step back and supervise from a respectful distance --- unless the two are working together, and then she has to slow down her work to accommodate the child's capacity.

 

Yes, I got that:  any time I want to "help" God, He has to make accommodations for the ignorance, spiritual weakness, and ineptitude that I bring to the table.  And yet... just like the mother who would not deny her child the chance to "help" her, so God allows us to participate in His saving, redeeming, healing work on earth.  In fact, He has made it so that the work will not be done without our cooperation and willingness to be channels of His grace to others.  His love flows through doctors and nurses, teachers, engineers, military men and women, plumbers and electricians, housekeepers, and cooks -- as well as through patients, students, mothers and fathers, etc.

 

"What do you want me to do?"  It is still a valid and important question, because the world has millions of opportunities for our service, and thousands of open doors for us to walk through.  If we do not have guidance, then we tend to overreach and over-extend our 'service' beyond our capacity to be effective.  We have probably all made this mistake more than one time. 

 

A friend of mine still resents the fact that her mother 'ministered to' the church and the world around her, but neglected the nine children at home who needed her presence.  It is an easy trap to fall into, especially when people flatter us by asking for our help.  I recall being asked to teach catechism when my children were still infants and toddlers.  I thought long and hard about it, and in truth, it offered me an attractive escape from the daily boredom of washing diapers, cleaning the house, and cooking the meals.  But in my gut, I had a feeling that the time was not yet right for this kind of service.  I had learned that whenever we say 'yes' to one thing, we automatically say 'no' to something else --- and I did not want my children to be the thing I said "no, I'm too busy" to.

 

Discernment is one of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit (see Is. 11) given to us at Confirmation.  If our service is not centered on God Himself; if we are not "sent" by God Himself, then we may be doing 'good,' but not necessarily what we have been sent to do.  John the Baptist said, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven" (Jn. 3).  If we do not know what is given to us from heaven, we will inevitably pick up burdens too heavy for us to carry.

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And how are we to know what God wants us to do?  This comes only through personal relationship and communion with Him.  I John 2:15 says, "love not the world, nor the things that are in the world."  This of course does not mean that we should not love the world as God's gift to us, but only that our 'love for the world' does not obscure our focus on God.  The demands of the world, the rush of its pull on us, should not draw us away from God --- for while He puts us together in peace, the world will tear us apart in its demands on us.

 

Here is the reading today from Jesus Calling:

 

I love you for who you are, not for what you do.  Many voices vie for control of your mind, especially when you sit in silence.  You must learn to discern what is My voice and what is not.  Ask My Spirit to give you discernment.  Many of My children run around in circles, trying to obey the various voices directing their lives.  This results in fragmented, frustrating patterns of living.  Do not fall into this trap.  Walk closely with Me each moment, listening for My directives and enjoying My Companionship.  Refuse to let other voices tie you up in knots.  My sheep know My voice and follow Me wherever I lead.