Beatles 10, Help! I Need Somebody

So here we are in the tenth installment of the Beatles devotional series.  Let’s start with a pop quiz!  Who played bass for the Beatles?  And everyone says, “Paul,” and of course, everyone is correct.  Paul definitely played bass – but Paul also played guitar on “Blackbird” and “Yesterday”.  He played piano on a few songs (some argue that he played it poorly).  Paul played Drums on “Back in the USSR”, “Dear Prudence”, and “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (among others) while Ringo was off feeling underused and sorry for himself. Mainly, however, Paul is known for playing what? Bass.  Why?  Because that’s the instrument that he needed to play.  There wasn’t a “Help Wanted” ad that Paul answered, but they needed help all the same.

Not back at the beginning, though.  Way back before the Fab Four was the Final Four, there was a man named Stuart Sutcliffe.  They were primarily playing local clubs with John, Paul, George and Ringo…and Stuart.  Stuart Sutcliffe played bass, and Paul played guitar with John.  And the Fantastic Five got along swimmingly…until Stuart quit, then died shortly thereafter.  Instead of hiring a new bassist, Paul gave up his guitar playing and became the band’s bass player.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Paul played bass because that’s the instrument the Beatles needed him to play.  Paul could, so why shouldn’t he?

 So what instrument do you play?  Sometimes we have to do what’s needed of us.  The list is virtually endless of (figurative) instruments that can be played at church.  Maybe it’s teaching a class.  Maybe it’s NOT teaching a class, until the Stuart Sutcliffe of the Sunday morning 7^th Grade class moves up to teach another class.  Then someone calls you, and you fill in.  Did feel called and go volunteer?  No.  Are you happy to do because it needed to be done?  Absolutely!  Because I can, so why shouldn’t I?

My point is:  Not everything comes to be because you felt called to do it.  When I started writing these devotionals (almost two years ago, now), it was because I felt the calling to do something.  At the time, I didn’t know what…then I figured it out.  Here we all these devotionals later and I’m still doing it.  But it’s not always a situation where you feel compelled to act.  Paul didn’t feel compelled to act when he was travelling down the road to Damascus, did he?  I’d say not.  Well, not compelled to go preach the Gospel, anyway.  Maybe he was compelled to go persecute those crazy Jesus followers.  But sometimes you get asked to fill a need in the church.  And how do you respond to that?  If you can, why shouldn’t you?

Maybe you’re placed in a situation outside of church.  Maybe it doesn’t seem like a “churchy” situation at all.  But do you step up and do the job you’re called to do as a Christian?  Would you do it even nobody ever notices you doing it?  Would you do it if name never got mentioned in the church bulletin or if you did it and nobody ever even knew at all?  Because being honest, there’s a lot of that going around.  Lots of people doing things just so that people can see them doing it.  Jesus addressed that in Matthew 6 when He said that if you helped the needy just to be noticed, that surely you’d gotten their reward in full – when you got noticed.  Somehow we’ve drawn an imaginary line between Christianity “at church” and “out there.” But we’re to be Christians all the time.  So if you can be Jesus to someone needing Him, why shouldn’t you?

Listen for the Whisper that sounds like Paul playing his bass.  Sure we’d all like to be the lead singer, or the guy playing the smokin’ guitar solo.  I’d even love to be Animal from the Muppets bashing away on the drums.  But there always needs to be someone playing bass if you want it to all sound right.  Whether you feel called to play bass, or simply playing it because you needed to when someone asked you to, God always needs bass players.  And while the bass players may not get the same recognition as the others from the crowds at the concerts, God notices them.  Help Wanted! God needs bass players.  Why shouldn’t you?

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com