By all means serve somebody

I believe it was C. H. Spurgeon who wrote, “No one can help everybody, but everyone can help somebody.”

I appreciate that piece of philosophy. It’s good theology, too.

One of the painful lessons I learned long ago is that not everyone appreciates my approach to faith. Not everybody likes my style of ministry or my way of preaching. Learning this lesson provided enormous relief for me. I discovered I didn’t have to save the world. All I have to do is help save some and help serve some. I cannot reach or serve everyone, but I am uniquely gifted to reach some.

No local congregation will serve the needs of everyone. No pastor will satisfy the desires of every church member – or the people outside the church, for that matter.

We don’t mean to exclude anyone, but some people will not find our form of worship particularly meaningful. Some will feel we dilute the faith. Others will be convinced our approach is too definitive.

Yet we know that many will respond to Jesus Christ through our witness. We know that we can serve some people who won’t be served by anyone else.

All of this creates a healthy humility in us. None of us have perfected our expressions of faith. We are all partially flawed. But we are also individually and magnificently endowed with the gift of touching lives with the grace and love of God in ways that no one else can. There is more to celebrate in our ability to serve somebody than to despair in our inability to serve everybody.

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