Reaching Our Full Potential

As a ministry team here at Sunshine Gospel Ministries we have been meeting together weekly to discuss Radical Together, by David Platt. Only a few chapters in, yet I have been wrestling with one of his thought provoking questions. He challenged his readers to consider the ministries their involved with, and the money they spend. He didn’t ask whether the ministry is good but if it is the most effective way to share God’s word. Platt says it like this, “We have to put everything, even good things in the church, up for reconsideration before God, releasing them wholly to him and asking him to show us his priorities and purposes for each” (Platt, 9). That simple statement really challenged me, to evaluate how I go about my ministry, am I really doing it the most effective way with the resources I’ve been given?

Some questions I began to comb through as I evaluated my own life were; who does God say is my neighbor? Is my life-style and work, my free time, my spending, my giving used in the best way for the glory of God. So how can I make my resources and time most effective for God? Once I thought through these I began to write down some things I could change. They didn’t have to be big changes. I started off with my money. Not having much money makes it easier to know where I spend it. The biggest money expense after rent is food. Now I love to go out to eat and I tend to go at least 3 times a week, so I decided why not cut back to one meal with others and one by myself. So one less meal a week and I made one meal with the purpose of fellowship. Last year I worked on my tithing realizing that I struggled to give God just 10% I decided to donate to a cause every month in order to make sure I was giving at least 10%, if not more monthly. Since then most months I’ve also found myself more available to give to others and churches with the extras the Lord has provided me with. Finally, I re-evaluated how I spend my free time. When I looked at my journals over the past year I noticed that I wasn’t daily in the Word. Some weeks I was missing four days. Yet most days I was watching a movie. So I decided daily I will spend time in the Word instead of watching movies. I decided to read more books. So this summer I began that challenge and yes I’ve watched some movies but without missing a day I’ve been in the word and I’ve read seven books. Even the little things in our life might need to be re-evaluated to allow ourselves to be more available to God. I hope this may encourage you all to evaluate your own lives to and walk in this journey along side me!

Jonathan "JR" Roberts
Youth Outreach Summer Intern
JR will be a sophomore at Moody Bible Institute this fall.
You can check out JR's personal blog here

.