Called to be a Super-Hero?

If we take on board our calling to share God's love, and tell people about that love, I wonder if we then find ourselves thinking that to do that properly we would need to become some kind of super hero? A person who has all the answers, all the Bible knowledge with verse references ready to hand, and the ability to boldly proclaim where no-one has proclaimed before ...

Now it might sound strange, but the Bible doesn't actually call us to be any of that. It simply requires us to be ourselves – the person God has made us to be, the person now in Christ. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that we don't have to change, but the change required is more along the lines of our willingness to share than what we perceive as our ability. 1Peter 3:15 exhorts us to be ready (and therefore willing) to explain the hope that we now have in God, and equally reminds us to do that gently and in a way that respects the enquirer.

Perhaps our starting point should therefore be 'Here I am Lord', rather than 'Here's what I can do, Lord', or even 'Here's what I think I've been told to do, Lord'. Being ready and willing then allows God to present the situations so that we can act appropriately when they arise. I'm confident that as each of us presents ourselves to God with a simple prayer like 'Here I am Lord, help me to be ready and able' will end up working itself out in all kinds of situations in what we pray, what we say, and what we do.