Uncertain, Yet Committed
January 29, 2023
“In the initial days of study, the students appear to be simple and full of uncertainties, completely unaware of the seriousness of serving the Lord. Even their plans for the future keep changing. But, as they go deeper into the depths of God’s Word, we see a lot of changes in their thinking and practical lives.”
This is how one of the pastor’s who partners with Acts as a Training Center Director describes his new students. They have uncertainties and they do not understand the gravity of serving Jesus… but they come. They give a season of their lives, their energy, and their resources to come and learn about the Bible, theology, and ministry. They may not know exactly how God may be calling them. They may not understand the cost of the cross they are signing up to bear. Still, they come.
It reminds me of Jesus’s earliest disciples. They did not know who this Guy was, yet He called them, so they dropped everything and followed Him. Sure, Peter had the testimony of his brother that this Jesus was the Christ, and Nathaniel had the testimony of Philip, but each testimony came up after this One who they knew so little about had called them. They were uncertain about the future. They did not understand the cost of being one of His disciples. Still, they followed.
In India, where these particular students are training, persecution rates are rising with the increase of Hindu radicals. They may not know exactly what ministry might look like for them, but it will not be easy. It will not be comfortable. It will not be simple. They may not know the seriousness of ministerial life in India, but it requires a dying to self that may demand a payment of bruises and blood.
Seven of the present 12 students plan to become church planters among the unreached in their country. This director has a vision for thousands of graduates to go out from his Training Center to the various unreached people groups in India for Christ’s name’s sake. As the students study Scripture and go through the Acts curriculum, they are discipled and developed into men and women who become certain of their calling—men and women of Christ who understand the seriousness of the ministry they are entering and are determined go forward in the power and the joy of the Lord.
Praise God that He continues to call forth laborers into His harvest. Praise God for brothers and sisters who respond to the Lord with a “yes” in their hearts. Let us pray for these students and all the others who will come after them—that they would be found worthy of the calling that they have received.