Anne LeGare

Have you ever pulled nursery duty and prayed you could avoid changing a diaper? How come other kids’ poopy diapers smell so much worse than the ones our angels produce? Or have you ever had to clean a public bathroom area to make it nice for the next occupants of a cabin, time-share, or youth camp? Gross. Give me heavy rubber gloves, lots of Lysol, and a clothespin for my nose.

Another difficult ministry for me is food preparation and delivery. For starters, I’m not much of a cook. Then there’s the problem of getting the meal to the person. Sometimes I’ve just wanted to leave the meal on the doorstep, ring the doorbell and run away. The actual ministry part of the meal delivery was difficult for me. I didn’t want to go inside the house and engage with the people, because occasionally the houses were stinky and depressing. Sometimes the people were a bit too needy. A clean escape was always utmost in my mind.

Later, when I got to thinking about my bad attitude in this regard, I started calling it “ministry on a stick.” Like a jailer, I wanted to deliver a meal on the end of a long pole, so I’d never have to touch the person. What kind of ministry is that?

Ministry isn’t always pleasant – but somehow in God’s economy it produces treasure. I think I’ve finally cracked the code. It’s in the book of James. When I first became a Christian, my mentor used to tell me to be thankful for the particularly offensive “opportunities.” She consistently referred me to James, asking me to pay close attention to the first four verses. The passage always struck me as containing non sequitur logic: in other words, an end state that isn’t easily connectable to the premises. See if you agree with me after reading this:

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

How in the wide world of poopy diapers am I supposed to find joy in trials? What’s so fulfilling and life perfecting about delivering a dinner to someone in a house that smells like propane and sausages? The secret is hidden in the first six words. Go back to verse one and see what James calls himself. Yup – a bond-servant. Here’s what scripture has to say about that:

Exodus 21:5-6 But if the slave plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,” then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

Well, there it is. If I want to be a bond-servant to the Lord Jesus Christ, I willingly place my ear against that doorpost, nail it in, and surrender to His leading, no matter what. My attitude is supposed to be in line with and conformed to the attitude and likeness of Christ. Here are His words on the subject:

Matt 20:25-28 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

While I’m still not the greatest cook or baby changer, I am being transformed through service. I’m starting to consider it joy to serve my Savior and His people, and to face trials along the way. Are you?