Called to Minister: Living Out the Spirit That Gives Life

2 Corinthians 3:6

6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant —not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (NIV)

Every believer is a minister. To follow Christ is not simply an exercise of forgiveness. Following Christ is to do what He did. He left His comfort in Heaven to go into a world that did not know Him. He made Himself known. He made His way known. He called people to Himself in love and kindness. Then, He called them to do what He had done.

If you are a Christian—whether you feel like it or even if you don’t believe it—you are a minister of Christ. You are called to administer the love, the kindness, and the way of Christ to those whom God puts in your path.

In our immaturity, we often respond to God as if He exists to give His plan to us. Certainly, we know the Lord has a great plan and, like a good Father, He desperately wants to place us in that plan.

But we miss His plan when we miss that we are ministers. His plan manifests in our lives as we obey and seek Him, and we cannot do this if we deny that we are ministers. We cannot experience His incredible plan for our lives if we do not accept our responsibility as His ministers. The plan that is better than anything we can imagine is tethered to our willingness to minister to others in word and deed.

This is more than doing good deeds. Ministering to others is doing good for them while proclaiming that the motivation for our kindness is the Lord, who has shown us great kindness as He has forgiven our sins and given us hope and a future. As we live in our new role as ministers of the Good News of Jesus Christ, we will see His greater blessings in our lives.

Prayer: Lord, move my heart from gratitude and worship to serving as Your minister. Amen.