I fill many roles in my life. I am a husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, preacher, pastor/shepherd, vision caster, administrator, mentor, discipler, disciple, staff supervisor, teacher, men’s small group facilitator, church board advisor, best friend, friend to believers, friend to pre-believers, and neighbor. I did not create this list to impress you with my value or even convince you of my business. I provided it as a springboard for you to think through all the roles you fill. Your list will look different from mine, but if you think it through, it may be even longer. I challenge you to stop your reading and make your own list.
The goal of this exercise becomes clear when we understand that with each of these roles comes some level of responsibility. These function at different levels and with different frequency, but each of these roles requires some involvement on a regular basis. For example, I see my most vital role as being a husband. That is why I listed it first. To keep my marriage strong, I need to purposefully and prayerfully minister to my wife in a way that she understands she is secure and loved. On the other hand, my role as an uncle takes very little of my thought and energy. I get an occasional call for advice or council from my nephew who is a young pastor in Michigan. I have a niece in Grabill experiencing some health issues and we have been called on to help with the care of her children. But regardless the level of involvement of each role, I have a responsibility, as a godly man, to do what I can to fulfill that role in a way that glorifies God.
To look at the list of roles and the expectations accompanying each one, we can be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the responsibility. However, God has not left us on our own in this challenge. He has provided resources for our use. Of course, we always have the power of the Holy Spirit living in us. But there are other areas of our lives that all come together to allow us to be the men God wants us to be in each of our functions.
In God’s perfect plan, you are in the right place at the right time to meet each of these expectations. In other words, God matched you with opportunities that are best fulfilled by the personal qualities he created in you. These include your personality traits, and natural talents and abilities. We see this modeled in creation. In Genesis 2, we read that God gave Adam some specific responsibilities in caring for the garden and overseeing the animals. Remember, this was in a perfect world, before sin disrupted everything. God has always been a master at matching man with responsibility with the goal of success in mind.
Our resources don’t stop there. Not only do we have natural abilities to allow us to fulfill the roles God has laid out for us, but God also provides each man who is pursuing him, a package of supernatural gifts to employ. These spiritual gifts are given by God to everyone who has received salvation by faith in Jesus. They are given according to God’s plan for us. Therefore, we can deduce that God has given us roles and has specifically equipped us with the spiritual ability to fulfill those roles. We will spend the next few weeks discovering what our individual gifts are and how they fit the responsibilities God has laid on us. God didn’t give us these gifts to just fulfill our “church responsibilities”. He sees each of our roles as ministry and therefore, an understanding of our gifts is important for every area of our lives.