Moving the Chairs: A Parable

This weekend we have a wedding at our church. As it is a large wedding, we are bringing many extra chairs into the sanctuary and overflow space. The groom, a couple of the men in his family, and the groomsmen helped to carry the chairs from the storage building yesterday before rehearsal. After the wedding rehearsal was over, I spent some time with God reflecting back on the day. I was thinking about moving the chairs and our need to move them back after Sunday. I am not sure how this will sound, but I will try to relate the lesson I learned. During our time together, the Lord began to speak to me about my purpose at the church. More than that, he began to show me how he wanted me to change from my idea of my purpose to His true purpose. He used the chairs as a parable to help me see what He wanted.

    Let's suppose your duty for the day was to move all these chairs from the sanctuary back to the storage building. Oddly, all the church members are there to help. As this plays out in my mind, my first thought is, we don't need all these people. If we have too many, they will just get in the way of getting the chairs moved. It would be much more efficient to have a handful of strong, hard-working people moving the chairs. My mistake was that I was focused on the best way to accomplish the task. What the Lord began to speak to my heart was that he was not as interested in how to accomplish the task most efficiently. What He wants is to make sure that everyone there is carrying a chair. His purpose was to move the chairs, but most importantly, to be sure everyone was involved together.

    As I listened, I realized I have become focused on accomplishing the vision of the church. What He wants me to focus on is the people. My ministry at the church is not to accomplish the mission/vision. My ministry is to involve as many people as possible in accomplishing the vision. The mission/vision of the church is just a tool. There is joy and fulfillment in moving chairs – serving the Lord in ministry. For the sake of efficiency, I was robbing many people of that joy and fulfillment.

    Lord, forgive me and help me to stay on track. Help me to stay focused on your priorities and not mine. Actually, help me to make your priorities my priorities. Thank you for being a great heavenly Father!

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