What Is Your Ministry?

“Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.” Colossians 4:17

What comes to your mind when you think of the word “ministry”?

As defined in the dictionary, “ministry” means “the office, duties, or functions of a minister of religion”; in other words, things a clergyman would do. Yet if you delve into a deeper meaning (from the original Greek language) of ministry, it speaks of “being in attendance so as to provide service, aid, or relief”. As I ponder this, it simply means being a servant.

A lot of times when we think of ministry, we think of church work such as serving in the nursery, singing in the choir, standing as an usher at the door to greet others, teaching a Bible study; heading up a women’s ministry; being on the kitchen committee; etc. These are all great and wonderful, and we should exercise our spiritual gifts in the church to glorify the Lord!

Yet, just as the Father provides opportunities to serve Him at church, I can think of many other ways we can show the love of Christ outside the four walls of our churches: praying for others, preparing dinner for someone who is sick, babysitting for a young couple who need a night out, visiting with an elderly person who can no longer come to church, cleaning house for someone recovering from surgery, and on and on.

Sometimes “ministry” is not the highly visible things we do for all the world to see; it’s wherever we find ourselves serving the Lord by serving others, and no one may ever see a priceless service that you have rendered to someone else. Yet, God sees.

Also, think about the countless things that you do every day. Helping kids get ready for school, cleaning house, cooking dinner, helping with homework, running errands, I see these tasks as ministry since we do them to serve the ones closest to us, our families. In fact, striving to have a healthy, godly marriage and raising children to love the Lord can be two of the most important ministries on the planet, wouldn’t you agree?

So, what is your ministry? We all have several when you think about it. Living a life of serving others, attending others, bringing relief to others, that sounds like what the apostle Paul meant when he said to “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it.”

May we thank our Savior each and every day that we get to honor Him and please Him by ministering to others.