Entrusted by God

As the years begin to add up, it is not uncommon for our view of things not seen to begin to shift.  In the beginning days and years of ministry, I saw myself as a  pastor and preacher who was appointed to a certain church for a certain amount of time.  As I found myself deeper in those years of ministry there came a growing awareness that there was more involved than just being assigned by a Bishop, but that I was entrusted by the God who called me to ministry with the spiritual care of the people entrusted to me.   

Being retired for almost a decade now means that sometimes memories return only as the result of some spiritual jolting of the Spirit.  Such happened recently as I read into the third chapter of Romans and found the words, "For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God."  To be entrusted with anything by God is not to be regarded lightly.  And, the truth is that all of us have been entrusted with certain things by God.  It is not just the Roman Jewish Christians, or the preachers of today.    

If we were to make a list it might include things such as being entrusted to live faithfully in a relationship with God who loves us unconditionally, or being entrusted with the spiritual care and well being of family members and those who share the marketplace with us, or being entrusted to treat the strangers in our midst with kindness and to regard them as being created in the essence of God.  The list is endless.  Each of us can reflect for a few moments about the uniqueness of the walk we have with God and finish filling up the blank page.