Hired For A Purpose [A Powerful Metaphor About Doing God's Work]

You're personally building a custom home. You call a contractor to put in your electrical wiring. Everything from the lights to the doorbell to the A/C, you have a perfect schematic of what you want to be done. Every detail. Once you've hired the electrician, you give him the property address and begin describing what you need to be done. But 8 seconds into the call, he suddenly hangs up. You try emailing him the schematics, but he doesn't check his email.He shows up on the job site and immediately finds the place abuzz. Everyone's doing something: plumbers laying pipe, framers putting in a balcony, gardeners laying sod, and so on. Wanting to get to work but not knowing exactly what he's been hired to do, he jumps in to do the best he can.You show up a week later to personally inspect job site progress, and, amongst all the various statuses, you learn that the sheet-rock was installed a little faster because the contractor you called to do the electrical wiring actually helped put some up. Roofers completed slightly under budget because he helped there too. Even the gardening was done better because he helped with cleanup. You start thinking this guy must be pretty stellar. But when you walk inside and flick the light switch but the place stays dark. You find out that not one foot of electrical wiring was laid down; not one part of your detailed plan was executed.Now all his other accomplishments pale from your mind because the primary purpose for which you hired him wasn't done. How happy are you with this contractor? How likely are you to pay his invoice? Are you going to call him again versus calling someone else for the work you need to be done?

Related Post: Your kingdom come, Your will be done

So it is with God and us. We're building God's Kingdom here on earth, and He has an exact assignment for each one of us in that large-scale work.

• "The Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing because whatever the Father does, the Son does." - John 5:19
• "For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken." - John 12:49

Jesus refrained from acting at random will and only did exactly what God told him to do each day. If we don't take the time to search out God's unique purpose for us and wait on Him for His instruction, just jumping in and serving in whatever capacity we see fit won't nearly have the same impact and value aligning to His exact calling. And our heavenly reward in the eternal realm will be equally commensurate.

"If you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you seek with all your heart and with all your soul." - Deuteronomy 4:29

So learn to "stay on the phone" with God and wait for the full schematics for what He wishes you to accomplish. Sometimes He may desire you to show up on the job site and do whatever you can in certain seasons. We serve a detail-oriented God. He does, in fact, have an exact objective for you to accomplish. And that's something you don't want to mess up just because you didn't wait long enough in God's presence to find out.