Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Jan/86

Contributor - Rinus Van Mil

Title - Volunteering

Topic - Volunteering

Jesus was the first volunteer. He was the first king willing to be born in a stable, to really be ridiculed for stating that He was God's son, to be able to forgive sins, to take the sins of the world on Himself so that we could be free if we chose to do so. Remember, we have that choice of whether to open that door to our hearts or not. He does not use a battering ram to get in. But if we do decide to let Him in, we had better be prepared to do something more. Then we become volunteers also, whether we like it or not. Mark 1:17 states: "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Some are sent around the world, some to the inner cities, some to the halfway houses, others to help the poor, and still others just to be pillars in the home church, working away on such mundane things as cutting the grass, babysitting or visiting the elderly and sick, and even some to be plain members to strengthen the rest of the body by praying. It is so easy to put a missionary or a volunteer on a pedestal and keep him or her there. It is necessary rather that the churches in all earnestness keep these people held up to the throne of God for His grace and mercy to flow over them. Often volunteers are out of sight, struggling with the strangeness and loneliness of a new culture, knowing that the Lord's grace is sufficient always, but missing the body of believers: someone who might sit down just to listen and boost morale when everything seems to fall apart. I know the Lord is with us all, but as a volunteer I know that there are times when the hunger for earthly fellowship is just as great, simply because humans are made that way. You may wonder why a worker who is working with people and experiencing new friendships could be lonely. When you are white and in a non-white world or the other way around you don't really belong. But here is the strange part: even though you may have white friends to whom to talk, you find that you no longer belong in that group either. And so you live in a no-man's land.

This brings us back to our first Volunteer. We read in the gospels of the loneliness and misunderstanding He had to bear, even greater in His knowing that the end of the road was a cross where He would be completely forsaken by God and everyone else so we could have that eternal life if we wish. (Remember that you volunteer for that too.) Oh, it is easy to go for a week or two or even a month to see some other part of the world and to help, but it takes more time to really understand the deep needs of the people. Are we bringing these needs back home? On what part of the field did that seed fall: good soil, rocky soil or the roadway? From experience I know the above. Only the Lord knows what impact we have. We are here to serve without asking all the reasons. We may only do the sowing here and someone else the harvesting. We can only give God the glory and praise for whatever we do. It is so easy to want some part of that, too, because we are doing it, right? Wrong. As long as we are here to do our part the Lord does the other ninety-nine percent. It is not the other way around. We want to carry the whole load, and then we are important, right? Wrong. After two steps we bog down. But if we can hand the load over to Jesus and carry only that one percent we can go a long way without getting tired. But we don't know what is happening in our work and how can we be important if we don't know what is going on?

I think that this is the solution to it all: we are only a cog in a wheel. The wheel doesn't know what it is doing or where it is going. But the one who directs that wheel knows both. It is only for God to know the time and place and destiny for us all. We must remember the most important part: not to clutter up our minds with needless worries about what we will eat or drink or where we will live or what other people think. Then we will have a lot more time to be volunteers for that all-important work which the Lord has given us to do.

In prayerful salutation and wishes for God's grace on your endeavours from another volunteer for His Kingdom.

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