Opus 2025-178: God’s Needs

God doesn’t need more Pauls.  His real need is more Aquilas and Priscillas.

We all know who the Apostle Paul was.  He wrote much of the New Testament and spent his life spreading the gospel through the Roman Empire.  Keep in mind though that in many towns he visited there were already churches established and nourished by people like Aquila and Priscilla.  Most of the spreading of the gospel was done by nameless, ordinary people who moved to new towns and took their faith with them.  That faith resulted in people asking questions that brought them to a point of belief.  Paul did a great job but he was a drop in the bucket when it came to winning the world.

He thought of himself as the apostle to the Gentiles.  I think God gave him that title because it made him feel important.  His real contribution was the letters he wrote to the churches he knew.  Evangelism has been going on for two thousand years.  Writing the Bible had to be done in a short period of time.  

We all want be the Billy Graham, the Dwight, L Moody, the entrepreneur who builds an empire, the musician that writes the ultimate song.  We have big dreams.  Don’t give them up but keep them in perspective.  It is amazing how many of the godless, pagan musicians in our culture started out singing specials in church.  They became famous.  Many are on the road to hell and dragging others down with them.  

God doesn’t need that.  What He does need are more people who are willing to scrub toilets, give people a ride to the doctor, organize books in the library, and other inglorious tasks.

Actually, in a sense, God doesn’t even need that.  God is quite capable of doing everything Himself if He wants to take over and run the robot factory.  That’s not really His style. That’s not what brings joy to his celestial heart.  He created us in His own image for a reason.

Our task is to fit into that reason not to try to co-opt it.

homo unius libri