Son of...

Being adopted, genealogy has always been important to me. I have 2 - the adopted side and the biological side. Someday I will post that whole story here for you to read, but today I have other things on my mind. In my chronological Bible reading I am in 1 Chronicles at the moment and most of what I have been reading for the last week or so are lists of people. So and so the son of so and so then son of so and so, on and on it goes. You get it. One of the most interesting things about "the lists" is when it breaks off from the normal pattern and tells what this particular family of people were given to do. A lot of them were warriors, it tells whether some were archers or swordsmen. THEN you come to the Levites. They were in charge of the temple (or at that time - the tent of meeting) where the ark of the Lord was kept. In my simple mind - they were put in charge of the church building. Their sole job was to keep things functioning properly, provide assistance to the millions of Israelites who needed to come and give their various offerings and to minister to the Lord. No small task for sure!

For a long time I have been convinced that if you traced back my genealogy you would find that I am a Levite, though I am not completely sure which of my 2 lines you would find it in. 1 Chronicles seems to say quite a bit about the Levites and their duties compared to other people. I guess that is particularly interesting to me given my job at the church. Today in my reading I noted that it listed singers, priests and gatekeepers. If you want to see what their duties entailed you can read it in 1 Chron. 9. I find a lot of similarities between what they were called to do and our modern day worship, hospitality and facilities teams. Sufficed to say - they had a lot on their plates! Just like we do today. The running joke is that Sunday happens every 7 days, so when one is done - you move on to the next one.

Of course, to me (because I am one), the stand out was the singers. It says in verse 33 : Now these, the singers, the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night. Contrary to what you may be thinking right now, I am NOT trying to use this as an excuse for all the singers reading this to get out of serving in other areas of ministry. LOL I just find it interesting that it says they were on duty 24/7. The music never stopped. They were constantly singing before the Lord (which is funny to me considering so many do not put that level of importance on music in the church today.) In my mind - that just put a whole different level of importance on what I have been called to do as a modern day Levite. Do I really consider myself "on duty" 24/7? Do I keep in the fore front of my mind the thing God created me for? I am giving Him all that He deserves when I come before Him? Am I doing it with the right heart motivation?

Lots of questions to be pondered as I prepare to lead others into His presence on a weekly basis (whether on the stage or off it!)

Everything thing the Lord has given someone to do is of importance. We all play a part. So, today, what ever YOU have been called to do to serve the Lord, and rest assured He has called you to something - think about how you are going about doing that and see if it might deserve to go to another level. He deserves nothing less than your very best. It is all for His glory!!

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God – which is your reasonable service.

Romans 12:1