Serve and Equip

• Devotional Studies
• Growing Christian Leaders

1. Two Important Questions

When Christ stopped Saul on the road to Damascus, Saul asked two of the most important questions that any of us can ask if we want to be effective in ministry. Saul asked, “Who are You, Lord?” and “Lord, what do You want me to do?” (Acts 9:5-6) Although Saul asked those questions the day that the Lord stopped him on that road, those same two questions are ones that will change and transform our ministries if we ask ourselves them each day.

When we ask the question, “Who are you, Lord?” we are inviting Christ to help us grow in our understanding of who Christ really is. In 1 John 1:1, John talks about the four ways that the disciples got to know Christ:

• They heard Christ
• They saw Christ
• They really looked upon or studied Christ
• They handled Christ with their hands

Those are the same four ways we get to know Christ. The one difference is the fact that we do not have Christ physically present so that we see the physical body. However, He is with us just as much as He was with the disciples. (Matthew 28:20) Two ways we demonstrate that presence with us is by the way we pray and the way we obey the Word of God. (When we pray, are we talking to someone who is with us or are we talking to someone on a million-mile phone line with a bad connection? When we meditate on the Word of God, are we asking Christ what and how He wants us to obey today?)

Do we really hear Christ when He speaks to us as an individual and says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”? (John 13:34-35) Do we take this as a commandment, as just a suggestion or view it as an impossible ideal? If we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, then we must take it as a commandment. However, that requires that we see how Christ showed His love for us so that we can show our love to one another in the same ways. Philippians 2:1-8 tells us some of the things that Christ did to show His love for us that we must practice in our relationships with one another if we are going to obey our command to love one another as Christ loved us:

1. In verse 6, Christ humbled Himself and became a man. Are we humbling ourselves so that we view our fellow workers as more important than ourselves? verses 3-4 (How often did we want our own way yesterday?)
2. In verse 7, Christ humbled Himself by becoming a servant. Are we humbling ourselves so that we are asking Christ to show us how He wants us to serve the people that cross our path today? verse 2 and Galatians 5:13 (How much were we in one accord with others yesterday?)
3. In verse 8, Christ humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death. Are we humbling ourselves by dying to self so that the people who cross our path each day see Christ in us? Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:1-16 (How many times did we act in our own strength yesterday and how many times did we act in the power of the Holy Spirit so that the love of Christ flowed through us?)

We cannot change yesterday. However, we will be cleansed as we confess (1 John 1:9) to the Lord those times we failed to humble ourselves. Then, today, may we each ask ourselves the two questions that we mentioned earlier:

1. Who are You, Lord?
2. Lord, what do you want me to do?

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