I was blessed with another great sermon by Pastor Ken. You don’t even know how many times God has affirmed myself and my thoughts through the words of my pastor and this Sunday, I was reminded of my mission and purpose in life. This week has been hard for me in different ways and I was experiencing a lot of doubt. Studying for NCLEX is hard. Waiting for job interviews is hard. But it just goes to show that God always has your back, even if it’s not blantantly obvious in every single situation.
So going back to Pastor Ken’s message, it was about serving others. Wow, you were probably expecting it to be profound, huh? Well, the most profound messages are the most simplest, and sometimes even the simplest of messages are the most difficult to carry out in reality. But he was talking about churches and their missions, how they start off with the purpose of service and sacrifice and kind of end up with a mentality of survival. I’m oversimplifying everything of course and just mentioning the points that resonated with me, but isn’t it true? He also mentioned that even if a church should die out, if a church dies out with it’s sole purpose of serving others til the very end, then it isn’t a loss and that we still fulfill God’s mission and purpose for us.
What does this mean for me? I kind of lost sight of that message. I let discouragement and disappointment get the best of me and the paradigm of service and sacrifice lost it’s meaning. I’m human, and I have to admit that I sometimes usually do want some sort of recognition for the things that I do, especially if they aren’t easy to do. I even forgot the joy of serving others, and that’s not easy to admit. But guess what? My affirmation comes from the Lord. I know He sees the things I do, and I know He is pleased with the sacrifices and service that I’ve done. It does not matter what others think. If I know that I’m fulfilling God’s mission for me in my life and that I and following His will, then I have done everything that I can possibly do in this short life that I have.
And now, I”m 100% sure that He’s calling upon me now to level up on this attitude as I continue into the nursing profession. I know that everything I’ve sacrificed is leading to this next stage in my life and you know what, I’m not as scared as I was before. I’m not as doubtful and intimidated. You don’t know how big of a change that is to me, and I’m glad that I’m finally reaching this point in my faith.
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV)