October 26: Underemployed person seeking full time position in Kingdom for which he is COMPLETELY unqualified...HELP WANTED

Jeremiah 49:23-50:46

Titus 1:1-16

Psalm 97:1-98:9

Proverbs 26:13-16

From Monster.com - a help wanted ad

ERA OFFSHORE HELICOPTER PILOT (GULF OF MEXICO)

APPLY NOW

 

Requirements:

FAA Commercial Instrument Rotorcraft category;

Hold a current first or second class medical;

3,000 total helicopter hours minimum desired;

2,000 total helicopter hours minimum required;

1,500 hours PIC helicopter required;

100 hours offshore.

This is SO not me.  No license, no medical qualifications, no hours flown, certainly no hours flown offshore - and certainly not in a helicopter.  It seems I am remarkably, completely, singularly unqualified for this role.

I'd like to try to be a servant of God in some capacity, but did you see the job requirements?

"An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.  Since an overseer manages God's household, he must be blameless - not overbearing (uh oh), not quick tempered (double uh oh), not given to drunkenness (well, at least not in the last few months...), not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.  Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled (ouch), upright (double ouch), holy and disciplined (did I hear the umpire?  "He's OUTTA THERE!!!")."

As difficult as all that is, furthermore, he "must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it."

Wow.  No way do I qualify.  In fact, I seem to qualify better for the positions advertised in the OT reading, for a citizen of Babylon, or in the NT reading, for a citizen of Crete: "liar, brute, lazy glutton", who claims to know God, but by whose actions deny Him.  Other qualifications - detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

I'm going to take it a bit closer to home, a bit less abstract. As my children get older, I find myself questioning my abilities and qualifications as a father, one who will raise them in the right way.  My idea of "the right way" has changed so much in the last few years, I shudder to think how far along the wrong path I've led them - my 16 year old daughter in particular.  

Where then is the hope for a sinner like me?  Thankfully, it isn't in me, but in Him, and in His promise.  I can take heart in Mt 19 v 25-27 where, having completely upended His audience's understanding of the nature and source of salvation, and explaining how impossible it was for man to achieve on his own, Jesus told them "with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

God has been working to break the false sense of security I've built up in the things the world values - ambition, career, material success and its trappings.  I am a work in progress, unable to change on my own - dependent on Him for Whom all things are possible.  

Do you notice how God might be trying to change you?  And what is He doing in your life?