Servants Serve with What They Have
by Rick Warren
"If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done." Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT)
Real servants do their best with what they have. Servants don't make excuses, procrastinate, or wait for better circumstances. Servants never say, "One of these days" or "When the time is right." They just do what needs to be done.
The Bible says, "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done" (Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT).
God expects you to do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are. Less-than-perfect service is always better than the best intention.
One reason many people never serve is that they fear they are not good enough to serve. They have believed the lie that serving God is only for superstars. Some churches have fostered this myth by making "excellence" an idol, which makes people of average talent hesitant to get involved.
You may have heard it said, "If it can't be done with excellence, don't do it." Well, Jesus never said that! The truth is, almost everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it — that's how we learn.
At Saddleback Church, we practice the "good enough" principle: It doesn't have to be perfect for God to use and bless it. We would rather involve thousands of regular folks in ministry than have a perfect church run by a few elites.
---------
This is a good message that can be applied by all of us. It also applies to motorcycle jumpers. Some of us are perfectionists, trying to make everything just right before we do anything.
Unfortunately, everything cannot ever be perfect. There will always be something that is not good enough. In fact, your safety is proportional to the budget. If you have the money to make every part on the bike absolutely safe, to make the ramp absolutely safe, to control environmental conditions, to make your body perfect, then you have billions of dollars, maybe trillions.
I'm a guy who always wants everything to be right when I jump, but realistically, there's always something that's not ideal. The wind might be blowing, which could be a headwind (the worst) or a side wind. I can never be sure if the tooth of a gear in my tranny might be about to fracture off and lodge in there, locking up my rear wheel on the launch ramp. Various body parts might be in pain, maybe even to the point where I can't totally trust them to perform under the rigors of launching and landing.
Sometimes I didn't have all the material I needed to build a ramp, or other things...but I had to find a way.
Those kinds of problems are faced by every jumper. Sometimes when you simply move forward as if you have everything, the answers will come when you reach the point when you need something. You will rise to the occasion and make it happen. The right person will step forward and lend a helping hand. A step of faith is sometimes required.
Otherwise, you might just dream your whole life away and never reach your potential.
Is your bike a few years old? Use what you have.
Is your gear dated? Use what you have.
Do you lack a factory 18-wheeler to park in the pits? Use that old dilapidated station wagon. Use what you have.
Are you shy in front of crowds, afraid to speak in public, intimidated by cameras, awkward in your speech? Use what you have. You don't have to be perfect. Take a step of faith and conquer your fears.
JA
Message Thread
« Back to index