How Should I Serve
I am a fireman and have recently accepted Christ as my Saviour. Some of my fellow firemen make fun of me, but others have congratulated me for taking a stand for Christ. What should I say to those who laugh at the reality of religion?
For one thing, I think you should develop a little sense of humor. You might tell those fellows who take religion so lightly to keep their shovels handy, they might need them to stoke some fire in the world to come.
Seriously, I can sympathize with your problem. It is not an easy thing to take the jibes of fellows you like just because you have taken a stand for Christ. You want their good will, but not at the expense of denying your Lord. I have an idea that they are just testing you to see if you are really sincere in your faith in Christ. Stand up to them like a man, but avoid any bitterness or anger toward them.
Down deep in their hearts they admire you, and, like a fellow who gives a new car a test before he buys it, they may be in the market for faith in Christ also, but they just want to see if it works under pressure. This is where you can be a real witness. Sometimes the less said the better. Silence and patience are often the best rebuke to critics. Remember when Jesus was brought before His critics
"He opened not his mouth." It sometimes takes more grace to keep your mouth shut than to open it. You will find as you patiently take these criticisms that your faith and strength will grow, and I dare say that some of your buddies will be following in your footsteps before too long.
You say that all Christians should witness for Christ. I am a Christian but, unfortunately, I am shy and not a gifted conversationalist. Does God expect me to be as good a witness as those who are blessed with the gift of speech?
There are many ways of witnessing, and I am not at all sure that vocal witnessing is always the most effective. What you are and the way you conduct yourself is much more important than what you say. Words are soon forgotten, but a Christian attitude will be long remembered by those who behold it.
Then, too, you can write letters which exalt Christ, and glorify Him. If you have a friend or relative who is not yet a Christian, write them a note in which you ask them to share the joy and peace you have found through Him.
Your devout, consecrated life, in a hundred ways can be a solid witness for the Lord. However, I don't think you should rule out the possibility of putting in a word of spoken testimony either. You must talk at times about other things, although you say conversation doesn't come easy for you. You will find witnessing for Christ will come quite natural, if you practice it with the same regularity as you would for achieving any other worthwhile skill. It is quite possible that by becoming more articulate for God, that you may even overcome your shyness. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."
The Lord has done much for me, but many of my friends say I should not talk so much about the Lord. They say I should just live it, but not talk so much. Should I be silent about His blessings, or should I tell them?
The Bible gives the most direct answer to your question. You should do both! A good life without a word spoken fails to explain why it is good, and the spoken word without the good life is a mockery. Jesus said: "If ye confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father who is in heaven, but if ye deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father who is in heaven." The Bible also says: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." The same Bible says: "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without work is barren." Yes, you should tell what the Lord has done, and you should also so live that all men will be able to see a demonstration of His transforming power in your life. This way they too can know what Christ can do for them.
I want to direct my friends to Christ, yet when I try to explain the virgin birth and such things to them they just say I'm believing things that no one believes any more, and they think that I am queer. Should I just be silent about it, because if I don't, I'll lose contact with them anyhow?
You are making the same mistake that many zealous persons make when trying to influence others for Christ. There are many truths that are a part of the Christian faith which no enlightened Christian will deny. But they are not the truths we stress when bringing the Gospel to the lost. It is a matter of what pertinent truth should be presented that the sinner can understand.
Everyone can understand history, and the Gospel story took place in history. The birth, the sinless life, the death of Christ by crucifixion, and His resurrection are all history. So is sin in the human heart a matter of both history and personal experience. The lost person must be confronted with his own sinful condition and then with the fact that Christ died and rose for him. These he accepts by faith. When once that person received the Saviour, he has a new vision and new insight. The matters he formerly rejected or could not understand, he now can grasp, for he has a new personality and new understanding.
For two years I have spent most of each Sunday afternoon working with some young people in a neighborhood Sunday school. It has been discouraging work and my wife is urging me to stop and spend that time with her and visiting friends. What do you advise?
If these young people are being taught the Bible and about Christ, our Saviour and Lord, you must not become discouraged. Although you may not have seen results so far you can rest assured that God has used and is using this work in some of these young hearts. All of us like to see results but God does not always work that way. I once heard a missionary tell of his early days in China. For seven years he did not win one convert to Christianity: then one came, then more and more. When he died a few years ago, there was a flourishing church in the city where he had labored for so long. This church had its own pastor and officers and was completely self-supporting and in no way dependent on the mission or missionaries. The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Corinthian Christians, knew some of them were discouraged and he wrote: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." Let me urge you to continue in your work in this Sunday school. Pray daily for these young people. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you in what you say and do. Ask your wife to join you in this work. I can assure you on the promise of God's word that some day you will be thankful that you remained faithful.
Since I gave my heart to Christ, I'm not happy working as an electrician. I feel I want to give all my life to Jesus. What do you think I should do?
Certainly you should surrender all your life to Christ. But don't make the mistake of thinking only preachers and missionaries do this. Jesus, Himself, was a carpenter. You can serve the Master wherever you are. Ask yourself: "What would Jesus do if He was in my place?"
Get down on your knees and ask God for guidance. Perhaps He'll tell you to give up your present work, and get the necessary training to be a vocational Christian minister. If you feel led to do this you must be prepared for a long, hard road ahead. After years of specialized training in one field it is difficult to start study in another. However, if this is the Lord's will for your life, He'll sustain you.
Don't make this decision hastily. Be sure you are listening to God's voice, and not your own. Our Heavenly Father may remind you that you can witness for Him right where you are. Support the church with your time as well as your money. Teach a Sunday school class, or set aside one evening each week to call on strangers in the community, or those who don't know the Saviour. Remember that honest work, well done, is always service for Christ. As you bring light into homes and shops you are working with God. By your friendliness and understanding you can bring Christ's presence to all you meet. If you give people love and sympathy they will open their hearts to you, and every day you'll find an opportunity to tell at least one person about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Immediately after graduating from college I went into the Army and am due to be discharged in a few months. I honestly want to serve God but I don't know what He wants me to do.
I am convinced that anyone who honestly wants to know God's will for his life will be led to a clear understanding of God's plan for him. This has its foundation in a personal faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour. Up in the White Mountains there is a stone profile of the "Old Man of the Mountain." Viewed from any perspective other than the profile it is but a mass of rock. Christ must be seen from the standpoint of His being the Son of God and from the fact that He died on the Cross for our sins. Otherwise the Cross is foolishness. In the Irish Channel there are a series of lights which the pilot of a ship must line up before entering one of the harbors. In determining God's will for our lives, once we have given our hearts to Christ, there are certain factors which converge in giving us spiritual leading. First there is the inward impulse coming from the leading of the Holy Spirit. Then there is the Bible which corroborates our sense of Divine guidance. Finally, God often uses a trend of circumstances through which He indicates His leading. In this connection Proverbs 3:5-6 is a wonderful promise. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Here is a definite promise. Believe it and act on it. God will not fail you.
In your Oklahoma City meetings, I accepted Christ but as I am fifty years of age I am not sure how I can best serve Him. What do you advise?
Unless you are engaged in a business which is in itself unworthy of a Christian, the place to start serving the Lord is right where you work. There is no more effective witness for Christ than for people to see our lives completely changed and dedicated to Him. It is probable that you will be spared for many years of fruitful service to the Lord. You can pray daily that the words of the 90th Psalm may be your own: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." God has promised "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." This does not necessarily mean physical strength but the strength to know and do His holy will. In your new-found faith, ask God to give you the opportunities each day which He has ordained for you. Be faithful in reading your Bible and make it a part of your life. Make prayer something vital and practical. Let the joy of your salvation shine on your face. If you do these things, you will find opportunities for serving Christ opening up to you on every hand. Finally, speak to someone about your Saviour every day. It will make Him real and precious to you and you may win others to Him by your testimony.
I have for sometime felt the urge to go to the mission field. I have been stirred through the preaching of some fine men of God. However, I have a wife who is very frail and a father who is elderly and dependent on me. I would have to go to some school for training and many other complications make it seem impossible. Am I disobeying God if I don't follow this impulse?
Any Christian is disobeying God who does not follow the impulse to be a missionary. In fact, every Christian has that commission, and not just a few. Your feeling about being a missionary is normal for the believer and you both can and must obey the call. The question is: Where will you go to evangelize? What makes you think you must travel some great distance? If God wanted you to go to some distant land, He would certainly provide a way. The fact that you have responsibilities and obstacles are without doubt God's way of showing you where you are to do your missionary work. The special training is for those who are to do a special work, but you can begin now in your own community to spread the knowledge of Christ to those who have not yet heard. Let God direct you a step at a time, and as you engage in the glorious work of missions at home, you can still be looking for the open door. If you have success at home, you can depend on it when you go elsewhere. Meanwhile, pray, plan, and work in keeping with your present desire and God will give you clear direction in His time.
When I was a young man, I felt God's call to preach the truth to my people. I refused to obey His call and later got married. Now I feel the call again, but with a wife and family I cannot get the training or leave my work. Am I sinning now that I cannot serve Him?
Always remember, first of all, that if you have come to God seeking forgiveness for your past sins and failures, they are forgiven and forgotten by Him, even though you may reproach yourself and never forget. The Bible says: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness"
(I John 1:9). Do not reproach yourself now for a sin committed years ago if you have repented and sought forgiveness.
Remember, secondly, that if God is again calling you to serve Him in any way, such as preaching in your case, He will provide the opportunity. God's call always includes an open door, but God's open door also may be accompanied with opposition. Make sure you are entirely willing to do His will, and then when you have done your best, you can leave it to Him to make a way. Most important, don't forget that you can serve Him right where you are and that may be His calling for you. The early church were nearly all laity. Most of our churches make too great a distinction between pastor and laity. We need dedicated laymen as much as we need full-time preachers.
I am a married woman and have two small children. I feel that God is calling me to do missionary work. Do you think I should leave my little family and apply for work with some missionary board? I am forty years of age.
My dear woman, the greatest missionary service a married woman can render is to be a devoted Christian mother. Let your home be your parish, your little brood your congregation, your living room a sanctuary, and your knee a sacred altar.
God has entrusted and dignified you with motherhood. There is no task or no calling higher than that. If, when you have discharged your responsibility to your family, you have extra time, there are people in your community who need Christ. And your church undoubtedly has many opportunities for Christian service. Yes, indeed become a missionary, but let it be under your own roof, and in your own neighborhood.
I am engaged in evangelistic preaching and work as a miner to help pay expenses. I seek to witness for the Lord at all times. I do need some recreation, and enjoy fishing very much. Is recreation of this kind the will of God, according to such Scriptures as Colossians 3:1 and I John 2:15?
God has made provision for rest and recreation for His creatures from the very beginning. Even Jesus called His disciples to come apart from the regular activity of the day to rest awhile. When we are told to "seek those things which are above," we are given the guiding principle of life. It would apply as much in work as in pleasure. When we are told that we are not to love the world, neither the things that are in the world, we are told not to have our aim fixed on making the perfect adjustment to a world order that will someday pass away. We are to have our relationship to God as the first matter to be cared for. Our supreme love is for him and not for this world order.
God has entrusted you with the care of your physical body. As the temple in which He dwells, it deserves the best care you can give it. Wholesome recreation is necessary and beneficial. When it is controlled and used for His glory, it is as much a necessity as the food we eat and the clothes we wear.
We are a young couple with four children. We both have the feeling that my husband should enter the ministry and serve the Lord. What do you think about this? At what age does a man usually enter this field of service?
You say you both have the feeling your husband should "serve the Lord." Of course you can do this in a lay capacity, as well as in a ministerial capacity. We make a mistake in thinking that a minister is the only man of God. As Christians, we are all to be people of God, and striving to serve Him acceptably.
I would say two things to you both about entering the ministry. First, don't contemplate being a preacher, if you can be content doing anything else. My call to preach (and others have said they had a similar experience) was the result of a compelling urge to devote myself to the ministry, and a complete lack of interest in any other vocation. That was God's way of outlining my life's work. If the ministry appeals to you as a desirable profession, with allurements of social and financial compensations, by all means give up the idea. But if there is an inner urge to win men to Christ, and an unquenchable desire to preach the Gospel, by all means do it.
Second, no man is ever too old to give himself to vocational Christian service. If this is God's will for you, drop everything and begin your preparation. He will see you through, and as you obey Him, you will find it the greatest adventure imaginable, for you will be a working partner with God.
With all the hoodlumism and juvenile delinquency, I often wonder what the world of tomorrow will be like. One wonders if there are any good, wholesome young people any more. I have no children of my own, but I wonder what an ordinary person like myself can do to help solve this problem?
I well realize the prevalence of juvenile delinquency and the pitfalls of today's youth, but I would be the first to say that I have never lost faith in our young people. Though there are 3 per cent of our youth who are delinquent, that leaves 97 per cent who are not. If you could be in our crusades and see the hundreds of young people in the services, and many of them leading their friends to Christ, you would be encouraged. There are thousands and thousands of fine, consecrated young people in America who contemplate going into full-time Christian service. A sixteen-year-old wrote me recently, saying: "I don't think you realize the large number of youth today who have dedicated their lives to Christ and plan to go into Christian service. In my high school there are ten who have made their choice to that effect."
What can you do? Encourage the young people in your community to live for Christ. Invite them into your home. Fellowship with them, and show them that you are interested in them. The trouble is that young people are searching and many good people haven't helped them to find the right things.
