Here Am I, Send Me

Posted by Naomi / at 3:08 AM / /

I was driving in the clear darkness of night listening to MercyMe and unconsciously singing along. My brain kicked in when it heard my voice sing, "Here am I, send me."

"What?" I thought to myself. "Do you really mean that?"

It got me thinking.

How many times do we raise our hands in response to an altar call that invites us to "do more for Jesus"?
How many times do we agree to go where He sends us?
How many times do we say, "Send me, Lord!"?
How many times do we say, "Not your will, but Yours be done"?
How many times do we open our lives up to Christ to be used as His vessel?

And how many times to we go right on living our own lives??

Or maybe it's just me.

Perhaps, I am alone in thinking that I offer my services up to God only to renege on my promise to Him.

What does it mean to say, "Here am I, send me"?

It means that I want to be used by God. It means that I want Him to choose me out of the crowd and bestow a special mission on me that will result in the salvation of the world...because I was the one who was sent.

How wrong is that???

I might as well say, "I'm here God and I'm comfortable. If I happen to be in a place where it wouldn't be too uncomfortable to share Your love--preferably with someone who knows you and preferably someone I know as well--then by all means, point me in the right direction and give me the right words and I'll say them and get the heck out of there!"

Strange that I am so excited about this love that God gives me, this grace that I revel in, this redemption I can't live without, and yet I don't share this excitement with hardly anyone.

For example, I have 678 friends on facebook (a small number compared to some) and I talk to maybe 15% of those "friends". Heck, I don't even know who half of them are. But yesterday, I posted for all the world and those 678 people to see that I bought a car. I was so excited! Here I was, advertising to anyone who wanted to know that I WAS EXCITED about something.

I'm not necessarily advocating "status witnessing"...you know, where you use your status to say something great about God and how great He is...I do that from time to time, but more as an extension of my thoughts than witnessing...in fact, it bothers me most of the time when it's plain that that is the reason for some people's statuses. But that aside!!!

I'm not saying that I should share my excitement about God on facebook, because let's face it: facebook is empty, shallow, and while a good communication tool, it is a poor relationship tool. What I am saying is that anyone I came in contact with yesterday whether on the phone, on facebook, at school, in a store, wherever!, could tell that I was excited about something. A car. A car! Something material! I was not afraid to say it to anyone who asked.

Yet, had my excitement been about how I felt God's presence so strongly, I probably would have shied away from explaining my real reason for excitement.

Here am I, Lord, send me.

Really?

I believe that this generation that is rising up has the potential to change the world. Never before have young people been so ambitious. Never before have they sought so hard for the truth. But where will they find it? What will their ambition be directed towards? What change will they create if God's people do not rise up first and actually mean the words they pray so flippantly?

Here I am. Send me in my school.

Here I am. Send me in my community.

Here I am. Send me in my neighborhood.

Here I am. Send me in my work.

Here I am. Send me at the beach. In the mall. On the bus. In the airport.

Here I am. Send me to my friends.

Here I am. Send me to my family.

Here I am. Send me in my household.

Before we can be sent to the whole world and fulfill Acts 1:8, we have to accept being sent in the lives we are living everyday. Each new day is so full of possibilities. Loosen the chains on your tongue and speak the word of God. Loosen the cuffs around your hands and praise the name of God. Loosen the shackles around your feet and spread the glory of God.

Here I am. Here you are. Send us, Lord. For real.