He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. (Luke 10:38-39, NIV)
Sometimes we’ll say, as a figure of speech, that a particularly devoted golfing friend “camps out on the range.” Like many such expressions, this one provides us with a humorous picture if we start to imagine it literally. You know, a cot, a tent, a stack of firewood, and an enamel-speckled cup full of hot coffee—all to be close to those endless buckets of range balls.
Still, there’s something powerful in that comic snapshot. For in it we are reminded that dedication is often recognizable in one’s staying put.
Jesus was a traveler. Paul too. And the rugged individualists and wanderlustful among us are drawn to that.
But think on two sisters and their brothers who made a home in Bethany. Jesus could count on Mary, Martha and Lazarus to be there when he came calling. Never once did he tell them that a missionary’s life lay ahead—probably because they were so good at loving their neighbors (and a few wandering sojourners) right from their home. That, friends, is what we call ministry.
When I sit down with leaders of our Links Fellowships, I talk about a “ministry of presence.” And I have found that this idea translates into many other contexts. Here’s what it means: when you take the time to establish your presence in a particular place, letting your life and your ministry take deep root there, people notice. You are not like the Johnny-go-quicklys who move in and out of a community, perhaps burning brightly for a relative few moments but not establishing the lasting impact that is built over time.
Call this sowing, the unglamorous work done in the spring when all there is to look at is a bare dirt field. Nothing attractive, nothing spectacular. Just one little seed after another, pushed below the soil for a season of waiting.
Melbourne pastor Mark Sayers, who ministers in a nation where as few as two percent of adults under 35 attend church, knows something about the value of commitment. In fact, he argues in his book The Road Trip That Changed the World that the single biggest attribute Christ-following believers have to offer a transient-minded, transient-hearted world is covenant living, where we stand by our commitments, fast like Abraham in our faith.
Such living has value in ethics and in our Christian communities, but even more its value extends to our outreach. As believers, we often speak of how we want people to ask us about “the difference” we display in our lives because Christ is in us. Truly, one of the greatest differences we can offer is that we are here, we are faithful, and we are committed—both to God and to the people he has given to us to live with and to love. Sayers writes: “By entering into covenant with Abraham, God had everything to lose. It is this mode of being that we must rediscover. We must rebuild the shattered ruins of the covenantal in our culture.”
We must, that is, be there like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
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Jeff Hopper
October 15, 2012
Copyright 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.