We thank God that the church is growing and that young people are preserved for Christ! It is infinite grace over your life that God has worked a desire in your heart to serve Him, so that you can be set free from sin. Rom. 6:22. But perhaps you miss having a task in the church? There are many young people in the local churches, and all the ministries are seemingly taken. What shall you do then? The answer is simple: When you have become a servant of God, you will never lack something to do where you are! Paul writes in Colossians 1:24-25: “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister [servant] according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God . . . .” Here we can see how Paul, in his circumstances, could fill up what was lacking “in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” He wasn’t bound either by time or place; he had become a servant of God, and as such he could fulfill what he saw was lacking in the church. There will always be something that is lacking in the church, and most people will be more occupied with what is lacking than with fulfilling what is lacking. Fulfilling what is lacking is the same as “to fulfill the word of God.” V. 25. It is God who assigns you your tasks. You can read that in Ephesians 4:11-13. When God works in your heart to be good, who can then hinder you? V. 32. Or when you see that a shepherd is needed in a given situation, and you assume that responsibility and show care, who can hinder you? But can you be a prophet? Yes, you speak prophetically when what you say is for edification and exhortation and comfort. 1 Cor. 14:3. Therefore I want to exhort you as a young sister and brother to be attentive to God’s promptings in your heart and to be faithful when God reminds you to fulfill what you see is lacking. Do not wait for someone else to show goodness or to say something that is for edification. Enter wholeheartedly into God’s service, and be a laborer whom the Lord of the harvest can use in His time and for His work. Matt. 9:36-38. Then you will have a share in the same ministry that Paul had: “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.” Col. 1:28-29. If you have such a goal in all that you do: to do your work quietly and peacefully, in the power that God works in you, you will always have a task in life! Then God can give growth to your work, and the result will be to His honor who gives you grace to fulfill what is lacking. 1 Cor. 3:8. May God mightily strengthen and bless you who read this, to be someone whom the Lord can consider faithful and can put into His ministry exactly where you are in your situation. 1 Tim. 1:12. The church needs such shepherds and mentors in the time we are now entering. For the harvest is great, and such laborers are immensely valuable! 2 Tim. 2:1-2.Kåre J. Smith