Assignments

I believe life is an assignment or a series of assignments, which is particularly significant for followers of Christ.  Mistreating or abusing our bodies, disease or accidents can cut our lives short, but that’s another blog!

Jesus saw His life as an assignment.  In His High Priestly Prayer, recorded in John 17, He says, “I have glorified You on the earth.  I have finished the work which You have given me to do.  And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (verse 4). 

Before facing the executioner’s sword, Paul wrote to the young preacher, Timothy, “The time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race (course), I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).  He too, indicates that life is a series of assignments.  Among others, Paul’s two main assignments were to preach to the Gentiles and to write two-thirds of the New Testament.  Your Bible in part is the result of his completed assignments!

I’m the middle of seven kids, and we lost our mother when we were all teenagers. Mom died at age 40.  Understandably, I struggled with her untimely death, and became angry toward God.  My anguished heart found no peace until Mrs. Thelma Hoffman, pastor’s wife of the Jefferson Church of the Nazarene, came to our home.

She gathered my siblings and me around the kitchen table and what she prayed altered my thinking and began a healing process.  I loved school and understood and valued the necessity of completed assignments.  The Holy Spirit knew that, too.  Mrs. Hoffman prayed, “Heavenly Father, thank you for Joyce and the life you gave her.  Thank you Lord Jesus, that Joyce finished her assignment and you have called her home.”  That simple, yet profound prayer brought me comfort.

I believe our assignments are given according to the gifts placed inside us.  These God-given gifts manifest as we grow toward maturity and direct our life’s work.  I have never understood the will of God for my life to be that “mysterious unknown” and difficult to determine.  Rather, I think that God puts gifts (desires) within us even from birth to help guide our assignments!  We are called to tap into what God places within us and develop it for His glory and our fulfillment.

I’ve been amazed at individuals in our previous five churches that insisted they were called to sing solos, but could not “carry a tune in a bushel basket!”  Or those who felt called to preach or teach, but never studied the Bible; could not look people in the face or had the personality of a porcupine!  You gotta love it!  First and foremost, unrealistic or delusional people need to get honest with themselves.

As a boy, I was often found loitering in the kitchen, listening to the adults (usually my mom and aunts).  There I learned to listen and there I came to understand the necessity of holding confidences.  Seldom did mom say, “Roger, go play with the rest of the kids,” for intuitively she knew that God was doing something special in my heart – mainly preparing me for a lifetime of ministry. 

I stand in awe even today when I realize that those “kitchen conversations” prepared me for my subsequent pastoral and hospice chaplain “assignments.”  Much of my ministry has consisted of one-on-one encounters, where good listening skills and confidentiality were necessary.  I pray I have fulfilled my assignments to date with integrity and trust.  Now, it’s on to the next assignment – Hope Community Church!