Mark 9:41
One of the things that we seem to miss completely in Scripture is the paradigm for ministry. Why does Jesus say, ‘because you belong to Christ’? Why does that matter? Well, time and time again in Scripture we see this pattern. Giving, charity, ministry have as the object God’s people. Even in the case of evangelism, the goal is to bring people to Christ. So, we are to minister to the church, not the world?
Well, we minister to the world by ministering to the church. Among Christian ministers we find many patterns. Some don’t seem to minister at all. They just preach fiery damnation and figure they’ve done their job. Others minster only to the world, and let Christians fend for themselves. Still others will help only those in the church. But the right balance is to minster to all, with our primary focus being ministry to the church. Why? Because as we can see from this verse and others, this is the Bible way.
Heavenly Father, may we be truly benevolent like you are! You give and give. Your goodness never expires, or gets tired. You are always there, and you always care. May we be ministers with your heartbeat. We will give you the praise! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise you, Amen.