A special breed of cat
Several years ago a Pastor of whom I was friends with was contacted by the Pastor Search committee of a large Baptist church. He traveled to the city the church was located in and the committee showed him around. After some time, they asked him to be their Pastor. But, he didn't feel led of the Lord to accept.
He was Pastor of large church in a unique city. He told the committee "It takes a special breed of cat to Pastor in the city that I Pastor in and I think I am that special breed of cat."
I would agree with that; this guy was a special breed of cat. He was unique.
But, you know, we are all a special breed of cat... we are all unique. God made each one of us special.
The key is finding out what makes us tick... where our giftedness is.
John the Baptist was a special breed of cat. In John 1:6-7 the Bible says of John the Baptist "There came a man, sent from God, whose names was John. He came for a witness, that He might bear witness of the light."
Focus on the words "... He came for a witness." John was born to be a witness of the light and the light was Jesus. John came to prepare the way for Jesus. He was a special breed of cat in that his task was to prepare the way for Jesus.
Paul was a special breed of cat. Romans 15:16 says his calling was to be "... a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles." That was his purpose in life.
We all have a purpose. We all have unique gifts. The key is finding our "niche"... finding the area where we can use our gifts to bring glory to God.
One key to this is knowing what we are not. Sometimes people go through life trying to be something they aren't. John knew who He was and who he was not. He wasn't the Messiah... he was simply one sent to prepare the way for Christ.
Back in March of 1993 I was putting the finishing touches on my sermon for the Sunday night service on the Sunday I was called as Pastor of FBC Vanceave, Miss. Don Rawls, Chairman of the search committee came in the office.
He said "I've been up front a lot over the last several months as Chairman of the search committee. But, I'm going to begin backing out. You are the Pastor. My job is done."
What he said was a variation of what John said of Jesus thousands of years ago; "He must increase but I must decrease."
John knew who he was and who he wasn't. He wasn't the Messiah.. he was sent to prepare the way for the Lord. And in that role he was a "special breed of cat."
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