"Show Up!"

(Thanks to my dear brother and friend Jay for inspiration on this one.)

I have often referenced in these devotionals that if born again believers could audibly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, "Get up!" would be a frequent mandate we would hear. God's redemption is such that sin and failure should never keep us down because the gracious mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ is such a powerful restorative, and His Spirit works mightily to encourage and strengthen us as we trust the Word of God in times of discouragement and/or sin.

I also think of another two-word mandate we might hear. "Show up!" I think of this mainly in reference to the ministries God gives us for the purpose of honoring the Lord Jesus, and blessing other people with His love. It has been said that our greatest ability is availability. When we take our callings seriously enough to consistently be where God has placed us, He leads and enables us to fulfill our privileged responsibilities. "Ministries," by the way, involve far more than preaching, teaching, or other roles traditionally defined as spiritual. Anything we do that involves participation with people and service to them should be viewed by the believer as God's calling upon our lives. "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Corinthians 10:31). The Apostle Paul also wrote that "unto the pure, all things are pure" (Titus 1:15). The purity that Paul references is the determination that our complex lives are ultimately defined by one fundamental reason for existence: the glory of the Lord Jesus. When we show up with a trusting, submitted heart devoted to the Apostle's "this one thing I do," our availability becomes the vehicle for God's ability revealed in us (Philippians 2:13).

We are called to show up. May our days begin with the grateful acknowledgment that we belong to the Lord Jesus. We are His ambassadors, and our callings provide opportunity to represent Him in both attitude, deed, word, and loving self sacrifice. His Spirit dwells within our trusting hearts, and as we consistently arrive at the venues of ministry to which God appoints us, we shall find guidance and enabling far more than equal to the task.

"I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me."

(Isaiah 6:8)