I am available

A few years ago Ruth and I were visiting a church and after the service a man that we hadn't see for several years came up to us and greeted us.

After quickly catching up he asked us where in the world we had been the last few years. He knew that we had traveled to different locations in the world serving the Lord.

I told him of some of the places in the World and the projects that we had worked on while visiting those countries. After hearing of the variety of locations where we had served he said, "How come you guys get to go to all of those interesting places?"

Without even thinking I opened my mouth and out came these words, "Because we are available."

That knee-jerk reaction to his question elicits a Biblical truth that isn't often taught.

Let's go back to the Old Testament and see what the prophet Isaiah teaches us in Isaiah Chapter 6 and verse 8.

"I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! send me."

I don't believe that this is an isolated incident where God is speaking to Isaiah exclusively. 

It is more like Isaiah overhears God asking generally, "Whom shall I send or who will respond to my call?"

I believe that God is looking out over the Earth and asking, "Is there anyone out there who is listening for my call on their lives?"

We hear people say things like, "God has called me to do such and such." Others say, "I have never heard God call me to do anything.

The problem is not in the call, the problem lies in our hearing, because he has called us all.

In Matthew 22:1-14 Jesus is giving a teaching about the wedding feast in which the ones he invited refused to come so he extends his invitation to everyone  in the whole world.

At the end of his teaching in verse 14 Jesus says, "For many are called, but few are chosen."

I believe what he means by this statement is that many are indeed called, but only a few are available.

The chosen path is narrow indeed and not many choose to walk it. Jesus makes this haunting statement in Matthew 7:13-14: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." 

Can I add? "Few choose to find it."

Let me explain this in a way that your third grader can understand it. God is looking for those who are standing on their tiptoes in anticipation, waiting to be used by God. They know that God wants to use them and are just waiting for him to give them their marching orders.

Are you available?