So often we judge our lives on what we have done that is noticed or recognized. If we don’t see fruit then we consider our lives and work unfruitful.
God has been walking me into a new understanding of the way I view my life in relation to furthering the Kingdom of God. I had many expectations on what my year on the Race would look like and quickly realized that I hadn’t fully processed through the disappointments of those expectations. I get to be a first row spectator into the lives of Q squad and as they start their race and dig into ministry I have seen things in them that I wanted on my race. I wanted more crazy God stories such as healings and conversions. I didn’t see that much throughout my year. I began to compare my year on it’s effectiveness in immediate changes and signs and wonders. I began to struggle with the Lord on why He even had me on that route and squad in the first place. That was something I struggled with for most of the year. I pushed them aside but hadn’t fully dealt with those feelings.
But that was when God showed me differently. This month the squad met each morning from 10-12:30 at our host’s ministry house for worship, devotion, and sharing. One morning, soon after I had realized that I was still struggling with the outcome of my past year, our host said something that struck my heart.
She shared how she was raised in a village in the mountains in Hindu family and community. When she and her two sisters were little, they would attend a kids program once a year and would receive used Christmas cards from the States. They were never told the Gospel but a Christian church handed these cards out to the children. She described how they would compare their cards and it was such an exciting gift to receive. That is what caused her to pursue Jesus at 10 years old. Now her mother and two sisters are Christians and both her sisters are missionaries as well. One is in China and the other lives in Nepal with her. God used old Christmas cards that we would toss into our landfills to bring an entire family and community into relationship with Him.
We all have responsibility to share the love and gospel that Jesus has given us, to others. None of us are taken off the hook with that, but the Lord does use us all in different ways. I realized that even the little things matter. And not everything will produce immediate results. It’s about listening and obeying the Spirit when He urges us. It may be to see someone’s sight be restored, the straightening of a back, casting out a demon, sending a used Christmas card, giving a homeless person a snack bar or praying for someone as you receive the prompting.
The important thing is to listen and be available.
We are a body, all with different functions yet with the same end goal and responsibility.
1 Corinthians 12:12, 18-20 “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ….But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.”
The Lord has been showing me how much Spiritual comparison I allowed to rule me. Ultimately, it was debilitating my faith. My responsibility is how I live out day to day how my Father asks me to live. I rest in the fact that it isn’t about me or what my year on the World Race looked like. I can honestly say that I wholeheartedly did the work before me and that Jesus gets to do the rest. He is the finisher. He will ALWAYS finish what He, Himself began.
So what Spiritual comparison are you buying into?
