Something I'm learning this week is that it’s not about what I do or how much I do, it’s my motives behind what I do that matter.
This morning in church, my teammate Marie preached her first sermon since Ecuador and I think it was meant specifically for me to hear.
She talked about why Jesus, after he performed his miracles, always said, “Now go and tell no one what I have done for you.” It’s not really what you would expect him to say. You would think that he would want you to go and tell everyone what he did for you. That he would want you to spread the good news, but he says, “tell no one.” Marie made an incredible observation about why Jesus did this. It’s because his main purpose on this earth was not to perform miracles. It wasn’t to make the blind see or to cast demons out of people or turn water into wine to make for a good party. It was to make it possible for a continual, unhindered relationship with God. That was what he came here to do.
He didn’t come here to do good works so that’s why he didn’t want people to spread the word. He didn’t want his ministry to be what he could do for people in the moment. Instant gratification was not his main concern. He wanted people to know him for his connection with God.
This sermon kind of put my Race into perspective. What I’m doing doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how many orphan babies I hold or how many walls I paint or how many English lessons I teach. What matters is that I show my relationship with Jesus to the people I meet around the world so that they will know about Jesus’ main purpose here on earth. If I don’t show that relationship, then everything I’ve been doing for the past nine months is pointless and everything I will do for the next two months doesn’t matter either. I have to constantly remember that my works have no meaning without my relationship with Jesus.
