Qualifications for Service

If people asked around about you, they would start finding a pattern developing, whether good or bad. You have a reputation. The question is, Is it good or bad? If you want to be used by God, then you need a good reputation.

We see from Acts 6:3 that one reason Stephen was chosen for God’s service was his good reputation. This means that he had personal integrity. The apostle Paul, writing to Timothy about qualifications for elders in the church, said, "People outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap" (1 Timothy 3:7). To have a good reputation means that people speak well of you—even nonbelievers.

Not only did Stephen have a good reputation, but he was also "full of faith and the Holy Spirit" (Acts 6:5). To be full of the Holy Spirit means living a Spirit-controlled life. It means yielding to the working of the Spirit each day.

There was another quality Stephen had that caused him to be used by God: wisdom. We see this on display as he generously quoted from Scripture when he presented the gospel to the Jewish Sanhedrin. It is possible to have knowledge and not wisdom, but Stephen had both.

Finally, Stephen was faithful in the little things. He diligently did what was set before him, which was to serve tables.

So if you want to be used by God, be faithful in the little things. You can never be too small for God to use—only too big. If you are willing to do whatever God wants you to do and be faithful in that, just watch what God will accomplish through your life.