I’ve been duped before, and it has totally stressed me out, and led me to be gasping for air 3 weeks into the beginning of a new semester. When I think that my job is too important, I downplay the necessity of God’s job up on campus. I want to encourage you by gently reminding you that God doesn’t need you. For me, that’s a big relief.
When I was younger, I was always the kid at school who, when I was assigned a group project, told my teammates to back off and let me do the work because I knew that I could work hard enough and get the job done to get that shiny, red “A”. I’ve grown up with a habit of being overly-independent and thinking that “if I don’t do it, it won’t get done (the right way).”
My wife recently reminded me of a great, powerful, and terrifying truth: God doesn’t need me on my campus serving the college students. He will accomplish what He wants whether I’m willing to obey or not. If it’s not me up on that campus preaching the gospel, God can and will accomplish his purpose by using other people. However, God is blessing me with an opportunity to make a difference in my generation by serving college students. This isn’t a job-it’s a privilege.
When Elijah found himself discouraged after his life was threatened, he fell into a depression and had an honest conversation with the Lord, proclaiming how he was the only faithful Israelite left who was willing to worship and serve God correctly. God’s response went something like this: “Chill out Eli, I’ve got 7,000 other children just like you who are willing to do my work. I don’t need you, but I’ve got a mission for you anyways. You down?”
As I write this post, I’ve got a million things that I need to do in a short amount of time to prepare for our first meeting of the semester, including putting a message together, making sure all of our little details are being followed through by our student leadership team, making sure we’re doing enough promotion, etc. But this semester, I’m choosing to realize that God doesn’t need me to do any of this. If something falls through the cracks, I’m not a failure, and I believe that God will pick up the slack.
College minister, be encouraged: God doesn’t need you. If something doesn’t go according to your plan, God is made perfect in your weakness, and He’ll make it happen. Don’t knock yourself out with stress and get burnt out.
Thank you for being obedient to your calling. Rejoice in this season of new beginnings! Bless you!