Finding Apostles

My junior year was an exhausting one.  I was trying to pick up several new activities while also attempting to continue the old ones.  Soon, it became obvious that I was doing too much.  With so many good opportunities, I had difficulties deciding what to drop.  I felt like no matter what I decided to do, I would be letting someone down.

Then I stumbled across this quote: "Learn to say 'no' to good opportunities in order to be free to say 'yes' to those great things God has equipped and called you to do."

I understand now what happened to me.  I had a reasonable amount of activities, but I still felt unfulfilled, so I added a few more.  Before I knew it, my schedule was out of control.  Perhaps my original problem wasn't that I wasn't doing enough, but that I wasn't doing the right things.

I have realized lately that many Christians, especially those of my generation, have an issue with doing too much.  We push ourselves too far and stretch ourselves too thin, until there's not enough "soil" left for the glory of the Gospel to grow in.

Perhaps we should take a lesson from Jesus.  One would expect a man like Jesus to spend all his time trying to "save" as many people as possible-- whether that be spiritually or simply through physical healing.  But rather than pouring into as many people as possible, he picked twelve men to invest in, mentor, and intrust with the task of forwarding the message he gave them.  

Out of those twelve, he picked three as his "inner circle"-- Peter, James, and John.  On three separate occasions, he chose these men to share an experience with him which the others did not get to witness.  There were even certain times that Jesus stepped away from everyone, secluding himself to spend time with God.

If Jesus Christ, the son of God, could find time to separate himself from the chaos, than surely we can as well.  Our activities may be very worthy, but if they detract from our relationship with God, they are simply idols.  No resume will be enough to make us worthy of what we have been given, and while it is certainly true that faith without actions is dead, it is equally bad to act so much, that our faith suffers.

So how do we choose which things to invest in?  Again, perhaps the best example to follow is that of the man who was God himself: "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.  When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he designated as apostles." (Luke 6:12-13)

We may be offered many wonderful opportunities, but perhaps it's time to prayerfully divide the apostles from the disciples.

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