TITUS CONNECTION Volume 17, Number 11- December, 2023

Greetings.  In three weekends it is Christmas weekend.  It is coming fast.  A Blessed and Merry Christmas to your family and you.  The Youth Ministry study features a look at Mary and what she faced.  The Leadership study discusses the willingness to developing in your role as a ministry/ organization grows and develops.  Sometimes this is easier said than done.  Enjoy.  Mike

When we become comfortable in roles and responsibilities that we have grown into and/or fit our abilities and personalities, it is hard to give them up.  It becomes even harder to give up responsibilities when we are publicly acknowledged and built up for how we have positively impacted people.
Think about when Jesus called the apostles to follow Him.  Matthew dropped everything to follow Jesus.  Peter, James and John were fishermen.  It was their livelihood, their identity.  It took more than once for Jesus to have the conversation with Peter about stop being a fisher of fish and becoming a fisher of men (John 1:35-51, Luke 5:1-11, John 21:1-19)
Over the years of ministry, I have seen ministry people get stuck, where they were so comfortable in their present setting, they were not willing to even contemplate a new role, one that would have fit them well.  It is very difficult to walk into an unknown, uncomfortable role when you are very satisfied with and loving your current situation.
Being a part of a team whether it is in a business or organizational setting, or for that matter the Kingdom of God setting, can cause people to be moved around or even be set aside from a present team to become part of a different team.  Being placed in a different role or team does not have to be a result of a character issue.  It can be because what you are passionate about may not correlate with your present setting.  Change is hard.
As you develop in knowledge and wisdom in your role, you may very well be called upon to take a new role because of what you can bring to the team (organization).  It takes being able to see the bigger picture of how you are or can be involved.
Hebrews 12:1 “weights” or anything that hinders was once described as excellent things at one time but now would be considered as good or even hindering things.  In practice or preparation for a sporting event, the athlete may add weight onto their body to build up strength and perseverance.  Once the event occurs, excess weight is removed to perform to the best of one’s ability.
As you mature in your faith or develop in a job, parallel to that maturing and developing are roles and responsibilities you take on.  In the course of time, with experience and the wisdom that comes, you place yourself into positions where those responsible over you, see your value in new roles, benefitting the organization even more.
You have a choice to remain where you are, that comfortable and safe situation, OR lay aside a role that at one point in your life was the best situation but now is only a good but perhaps inhibiting situation for you.  Perhaps you may not be paid as much, receive as many accolades but really be stretched in your new setting.  I feel these are times in your life where the Lord gives you growth opportunities to see if you will trust Him in new ways.
To be the best person you can be (pursuing excellence of 1 Corinthians 10:31), you will have opportunities in your life to take on new challenges.  For teams to become the best each team member everyone can be, every team member has to willing to intentionally pursue their best.  That is what we are asked by Jesus, to be faithful with what He has called us to be (1 Corinthians 4:2).

Ever have an experience that no one believed?  Think about this.  As a young lady, you get up your courage to tell your parents something that even for yourself, seems totally impossible but you know it is true because of what is happening to your body.  With all the courage you have, you tell your parents that you are pregnant but it did not happen the way normal pregnancy occurs.
Your explanation to your parents and the guy you love is God came to visit you and said that supernaturally you would become pregnant.  At that point your parents and boyfriend suspect that you totally lying as you got involved sexually with some guy for a night.  The story you give is totally unbelievable.  Yet in your loneliness and pain, you know that it is true – supernaturally God impregnated you.
That is the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, a young lady, most likely in her teenage years, Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and was told that she would have a child (Luke 1: 26-38).  Mary could not understand how this could happen as she knew she was a virgin and it was not physiologically possible.  She was overwhelmed that God would choose her for such a task.
Gabriel explained what God was going to do through her, that she would be the mother of the Savior of the world.  Even sense God was asking you to do something?  How did you respond?  At first, Mary was very possibly more confused than anything else as she knew she was a virgin.  Yet as Gabriel spoke, Mary believed God, trusting Him for what she could not understand.  Her conversation with Gabriel ended by saying she was the Lord’s servant and God’s will be accomplished.  Her heart was submissive and obedient to God’s instructions.
Though Mary had few facts and little understanding, she was willing to follow God.  It would not be easy for her.  Thoughts of rejection, lying, accusations and pain had to flow through her brain.  “Who would believe my story, especially my parents and Joseph?”  In fact the tag of bearing an illegitimate child never left her (Mark 6:1-3), when over 30 years later, Jesus returned to his home of Nazareth, people indicated he was the son of Mary, not Joseph.  Being known by your mother indicated that the mother was involved in infidelity and the child was illegitimate.
Following God’s leading is not easy.  How does God lead you; reading your Bible, praying and quietly listening in the stillness of your mind and heart, another Christian sharing something or as you worship Him?  When we sense His leading, how obedient are we willing to be?
God wants to use us for His glory in awesome ways but not everyone on earth will agree with God how He should use you.  You will even disagree with God at times on how He uses you.  We need obedient hearts and follow God no matter the cost.  Mary did that even though she lived through constant emotional pain.
Can you and I say, “I am the Lord’s servant.  Use me however You, God see fit!”? It is a choice we will make often in our spiritual journeys with Jesus.