Holding Court

We have been enlisted into the service of our King, and we can discern the direction of God in order that we might fulfill His purposes for us. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 8, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth concerning the church at Macedonia; he states:
5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.
6 So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well.
7 But as you abound in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us--see that you abound in this grace also.
8 I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.

We have been created so that we might reflect the glory of the Lord. That means that there may be a gift, a talent, and/or a skill that He has uniquely hard-wired into your life that He intends to be used for Him.  He desires for us to grow in our walk with Him and to express through outward action, emanating from our inward belief in Christ, that we truly know Him and are devoted to serving Him with the resources that He has given to us.

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We can recognize not only our abilities that have been given by God, but the opportunities to perhaps apply those skills in service to our Lord. We find such an instance recorded in Exodus chapter 35, which says:
30 And Moses said to the children of Israel, "See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;
31 and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship,
32 to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze,
33 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship.
34 And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
35 He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver--those who do every work and those who design artistic works.

She was a basketball star at Portland High School in Tennessee, averaging 30 points a game. But, after high school, she went to a college that didn't have a women's team.  She became part of a semi-pro team through a local business college, but she felt led by God to do something different with her love for basketball: to start a team at her college three years after she graduated.

That's according to a story at Baptist Press about Betty Wiseman.  The article says:

In 1968 she founded the Belmont women’s basketball team, one of the first not only in the state, but the Southeast. Wiseman served as head coach for 16 seasons and compiled a 248-152 record alongside four trips to the National Invitational Tournament from 1973-1977. At the tournament her teams knocked off bigger schools such as Alabama, Nebraska and North Carolina. Belmont inducted her into its Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981. In 2004, she became the first Belmont athlete or coach inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

She was with the university until she retired in 2013.  She had served as a professor and an assistant athletic director, in addition to coaching the basketball team, during her time there.

But, as Baptist Press notes, she has a love for fulfilling the Great Commission. She is quoted as saying: “I grew up in a small Baptist church and cut my teeth on God’s Word,” adding, “I learned about missions through Woman’s Missionary Union and still lead a group of women at my church. All of it is who I am and who God created me to be." She adds: “If you’re with me for any length of time, we’re going to have a conversation about who God is and how He orchestrates our lives.”

She attends Brentwood Baptist Church and took her initial missions trip with the church - to Chile - in 1992, and it led to her taking students to a variety of locations around the world. She says, “I wanted my students to have the same experience...I was out of coaching but still in athletics. We took a group through a partnership with Tennessee Baptists in 1995 to Poland. Through coaching clinics, we used sports as a platform for sharing Christ.” The article states that, "She continued taking student-athletes on other trips, traveling to Portugal, Costa Rica, Brazil, Ukraine and other countries." She said, "Missions has always been important to me,” adding, “You can’t go to another country and it not change you. The prize is in the process.”

Her pastor, Mike Glenn, says: “I haven’t known anyone who met her who wasn’t impacted...If you spend any amount of time with her, you’ll come away thinking about how amazing she is.” The story notes:

“Whatever you want to say that’s good about her, it’s not enough,” Glenn said. “Every pastor says if you have 10 members like that, you can change the world.

“You’d only need five Bettys.”

Are you one of those?  Do you desire the kind of reputation in your local church to be committed and reliable?  God will give us the desire and the strength to carry out what He has commanded us to do.  As we humble ourselves before God, we can experience His faithfulness, bringing glory to His name.

Perhaps there is something that you do relatively well and even enjoy doing, which can be an indicator of the Lord's ability to use that skill in order to honor Him.  We can, through time spent in prayer and studying the Word, recognize the giftedness that God has placed upon our lives.