"We've enjoyed many good meals here," my Lord said to me later when we were in the kitchen.
"Yes, we have," I said with a feeling of satisfaction.
"Now I think you are ready to help in the kitchen. With a family as large as mine, with many young children (and adults) devouring large quantities of food, the kitchen can be the busiest room in the house.
"Preparing and serving food is essential to keep a family healthy and happy....
In the family of God there are many doing kitchen duty: ministers, missionaries, employed and voluntary workers devoted to preparing and serving the Bread of Life to the people of Christ. They are eager to offer it to all who will receive Him. But the pressure can be great. Many cooks burn out, drop out, or settle for doing perfunctory, dutiful jobs which are not always productive. Many cooks are trying to do the work all by themselves."
I took His words to heart. When I began to serve Christ in the kitchen of my heart, I quickly learned that there are many other members in the family who have both the willingness and the ability to help me if I would only give them the opportunity and make the effort to show them how to do it.
What a difference it makes when there is a good crew in the kitchen, with one preparing the salads, another the desserts, and others the main dishes. And then there are those who set the tables, wash the dishes, and clean up the pots and pans...In a good, close-knit family there are always those eager to give a hand.
Believe me, I am sold on serving Christ as a member of a team, especially when we are aware that the assignment is beyond our abilities. Then praying together, working together, encouraging one another we are often amazed at what God does to feed and bless His family.
Jesus worked with His disciples as a team. And so did the Apostle Paul. It is important for God's people to be of one mind, bound together in one body of Christ. To serve as a team member in Christian leadership does not require unusual gifts or perfection of performance.
It does require relying on the grace of God. The One living in my heart is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20).
(1 Corinthians 12)There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men...
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and though all its parts are many, they form one body...
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
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