He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied... -Isaiah 53:11 The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) A few weeks ago I was talking to my eldest son about some of the young people that came by our home when he was in high school. Whatever happened to John Doe? I asked him. My son laughed and said, While everyone else was dreaming their big dreams, he went to work at an entry-level position for a big grocery chain, slowly worked his way up the ladder and is now way at the top. In the course of my life, I have met many interesting people, one of whom was Dr. Ed Cole, the author of Maximized Manhood. I remember talking to him on one occasion, and he told me about his struggles as a young man. He recalled a time when he had gone to some kind of Christian youth camp where he had to pay his way by cleaning latrines and more affluent young men made him the butt of their misguided humor. When I met him, Dr. Cole had recently been discovered in the world of those who follow prominent Evangelical-Pentecostal ministries. At the height of his ministerial success, he was described as an overnight success. He wryly said to me, Im one of those overnight successes that has been in the works for forty years. The Hebrew word that Isaiah used for travail means toil, wearing effort, labor, pain and trouble. But the word that qualifies the kind of labor described in the scripture above is the term soul. Soul work is something that is at the very heart of your being. Its what you want to do when you finish doing what you have to do to survive. Even Jesus worked for thirty years as a common carpenter before He got to do what He had been sent by the Father to do. When I graduated from high school in Australia, I wanted to be a medical missionary - That was my big dream. The school principal knew of my desire and gave me a book about Dr. Albert Schweitzer as an award when I placed first in biology. Life did not work out exactly as I had intended. I first became a pastor, then an evangelist, then an engineer, and finally a missionary after forty years of life and work experience in the church and the world. I came to this point in Gods way and in His timing, which wasnt easy; however, missionary service has brought me the greatest satisfaction I have ever known. Work may bring much success, but it doesnt bring satisfaction. Albert Schweitzer had the right family, the right credentials, the right connections and the right models, but apparently it wasnt enough for him. He was still restless, although Schweitzer was a world-renowned exponent of Bachs organ music and an outstanding theologian whose landmark work The Quest for the Historical Jesus had established his literary position. But much to the astonishment and disapproval of his family, friends and colleagues, Schweitzer went to medical school and became a missionary in remote Labaréné, Gabon, where he died in 1965. Schweitzer said in later years to a class of students: I dont know what your destiny will be. Some of you will perhaps occupy some remarkable positions. Perhaps some of you will become famous by your pens, or as artists. But I know one thing: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. On the subject of living to serve others, Martin Luther King notably said: Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You dont have to have a college degree to serve. You dont have to make your subject and verb agree to serve... You dont have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And as far as getting the right timing for serving others is concerned, remember the words of Anne Frank written in a diary: How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. WME
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 10:28:08 +0000
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