A Call of Duty

 Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

One major thing that the Lord has been teaching me lately is to get over myself and love the people around me regardless of who they are, how they act and what they look like. I get annoyed too easily, too often. And because I get so wrapped up in the things that bother me, I forget that the Lord has called me, and all of us, to die to ourselves and love our neighbors.

Just look at the verses above. We are supposed to be proclaiming freedom for the captives. But when we are faced with an opportunity, we wonder how long it will take or forget that they are captives and think ill of them instead of having compassion on them. Hurting people are everywhere. Spiritually lost people are everywhere. But how often do we go to the grocery store, look no one in the eye as we pass, and get out as quickly as possible? I do that every time I go! The only reason I ever talk to strangers is because they comment on my silly/noisy/cute/friendly baby. Our goals shouldn’t be to get out of the store as quickly as possible or to stay to ourselves and the ones we are with. Our goals should be to help the hurting, share the Gospel, encourage the brokenhearted and set the captives free.

So let’s start by seeing people for what they truly are; God’s creation, people whom He loves, brothers and sisters, rather than burdens and “stupid people”. Our “jobs” aren’t as easy as we thought they were…neither are they as mundane and useless. We have great callings on our lives, so let’s start living up to them.