Over the past few weeks, I’ve been enjoying spending time relaxing in the garden. During lockdown our garden has undergone a massive transformation, and is now bursting with colour. I am not the only one loving the new flowers we’ve planted. The flowers are alive with bees, busily buzzing to and fro each one.
Bees are so important to the survival of every ecosystem. Without bees, the act of pollination would be significantly reduced. This would mean no more flowers, plants or trees. And looking on a more drastic scale, if there are no trees, oxygen levels would be highly affected, resulting in mass extinction of all life! So, I think it’s very clear just how important bees are for our very survival on earth.
Conservation aside for a moment, watching the bees recently, reminded me of our important role within the world. We are called to serve God and strengthen His kingdom. As Christians, we all have a part to play in bringing more people to God; just as bees are essential in each ecosystem to support other species, we too are necessary to spread the word of God to others.
But how can we do this?
When we consider bees, you may just think they buzz about collecting nectar to take back to the hive. Whilst this is true, this is just one ‘bee job’ – this is the Forager Bee’s role. Within a beehive many different positions need to be filled including; workers, drones, house-keepers, guards, architects, honey-makers etc.
This image illustrates itself within the church. The hive represents the church body, and the bees represents us: the people of God. Similarly, as the bees each have a specific role to carry out, we also have our own way to serve. The Bible says that we have each been given gifts and talents to be used to serve the Lord, and we should do so gladly.
“Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.”
Psalm 100:2
“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.”
1 Peter 4:10
It is also important to remember that all jobs carried out for God are valued equally to Him. You may think you need to be a pastor, evangelist or missionary, to be seen as being needed the most to build up God’s kingdom, but this is not the case. Each and every role, large or small, is beneficial to God’s work. If all the bees decided to be honey-makers then who would collect the nectar? If we were all fulfilling the same role in service to God, then other areas would not function.
“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each one of us so we can help each other.”
1 Corinthians 12: 4 – 7
“Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says,”I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if the whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
1 Corinthians 12: 14-17
“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.”
1 Corinthians 12: 27
God created us uniquely, with our own divine purpose for His works. Instead of viewing yourself as only doing a small job, consider, that what you are doing at the moment, is actually strengthening the Kingdom of God. All actions completed for God with a willing heart is cherished. Serving God does not have to be seperate from your day to day life either. Through simple acts of kindness, praying for others, being generous with your time and sharing Jesus in your daily conversations, these are but a few ways of serving God as you go about your normal day. As long as you’re serving God with a joyful heart and with the motive of being a representative of Jesus, that’s all that really matters.
So, next time you go outside, seek out the bees amongst the flowers. Spend time just watching them and reflect on all the different jobs the bees are doing. Think about your gifts and talents. Are you using them to serve God? How are you serving God in your everyday? Do you come before Him with a joyful and willing heart?
I pray that God will speak to you today and reveal your purpose and role within His church. May you be challenged to seek out more ways of serving God each day. I pray you will also be encouraged, that in whichever way you serve God, it is valued equally and is important in fulfilling God’s plan for His kingdom. Amen.
God Bless 🙂 x
STEADFAST 