My youngest child, Jessica, loves to help me around the house. At almost two, she is eager to do whatever she sees Mommy doing. Often, she is the one to initiate helping.
One day last week, I was in the kitchen making my kids’ favorite supper, macaroni and cheese. I saw that the water was boiling, so I went over to the counter, where I had set out the boxes of noodles. At that point, Jessica entered the kitchen. “I want to help,” she said, walking over to me.
“Okay,” I said, opening the boxes and removing the cheese packets. I handed her one of the boxes. “Will you please carry this over to the stove for me?”
Jessica followed me to the stove, carrying her box of macaroni. I poured in mine, then hers. “Thank you for helping,” I said.
I try to encourage Jessica’s helpful spirit every chance I get. I usually don’t need her help, and in fact, it often takes me longer to complete a task with her help than without it. But I allow her to help for two primary reasons: first, because she considers it a privilege to help me, and second, because helping Mommy gets her in the habit of helping others.
These are the same reasons God allows us to help Him. He doesn’t need our help. He is the Almighty Creator of the Universe, Who made the world in six days. He doesn’t need us to help Him do anything. But He allows us to help because He knows it is a privilege for us to help Him.
Granted, there are some tasks God asks us to perform that are not pleasant. These are the ones we balk at. We don’t want to do them, so we complain. We forget that God always has a purpose for asking, and that purpose may involve our character development somehow, but certainly involves His glory. If we do what He asked, we do it grudgingly.
Where is our delight in being allowed to do anything at all for Him? Why do we not count ourselves privileged that He involves us with Him in His work by asking us to do something? We can either focus on the part of the task we don’t like, or we can choose to remember that God is allowing us to participate with Him in His work, and we can be grateful.
The second reason I allow Jessica to help is to get her in the habit of being helpful, and we can be certain this is part of God’s plan for us, as well. But He may not always allow us to help others in the grand ways we want to.
It could be that the job He wants done is small. It might also be that God knows we still need training before we will be ready to handle the big jobs. If I had told Jessica to make the macaroni herself, she would have failed, because she is not ready for that task.
In the same way, God sometimes gives us small jobs because He knows we are not yet ready for the bigger ones. Maybe there is a character issue He needs to refine. Maybe we simply need to learn a new skill.
Are you and I willing to perform small tasks for God, or do we only want to do the bigger ones? Are we willing to staple handouts for our group, or will we only be satisfied with being the group’s leader? Are we contented with singing our child to sleep, or will we only be satisfied if we can be the church soloist?
Let’s be grateful that God is willing to use us at all. We don’t deserve the privilege of helping Him, yet He has chosen to offer it to us, and in the most precious of all ways—caring for our children. We’ve already been awarded the most important task there is. Let’s perform whatever else He asks us with gratitude for His allowing us to work for His kingdom alongside Him.
After all, serving God is both a privilege and an honor. May we never act as if it’s anything less.
Psalm 84:10—Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.