Does it matter? Is this really making a difference? When I ask myself those questions I’m immediately reminded of a story Pastor Reid told in service before I launched for the race. I had no idea what the Lord was planting in me so long ago.
There was a man who had been told of Jesus many times before, but hadn’t ever come around to believing in him for himself. All of a sudden one day a Christian once again shared with him the goodness of Jesus. This time was different , and the man decided he was going to live for Christ. After the man came to this realization, he quickly reminded the Christian who shared Jesus with him, “You’re number 25. There were 24 before you who gave me this talk. You just happened to be lucky number 25.”
This has been resonating in my life so much recently. We didn’t come here to see the fruit of everything we’re doing. We came to plant a seed and stir up the living God who already came before us. It’s not our job or our right to see everything God is doing come full circle. If we get the opportunity to, it’s because He is a good Father and he wants to show us His heart. Being number 25 is just as important as being number 5, as well as number 17. It’s all for the Kingdom. I think it’s easy to discredit the gardener once the crop has grown. I marvel at the plant, and forget all the hands that tended to it. I forget the dirt that rested under fingernails, and the sweat that was wiped from a brow. All of it matters.
He didn’t send us here to see how much fruit we could produce. He sent us here to be faithful. And sometimes all we have to to do is be obedient to what He is saying, even if we don’t understand it.
“Jesus told them, ‘This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:29
Did you hear that? Believe. Be faithful to the one who was sent. I’m not asked to get a tally of how many people turn towards Jesus. I’m here to be faithful in believing that Jesus is the Son of the living God. That He is who he says He is. All I need is to have faith in who He is. And that my friends, is enough.
Whenever I get caught up, I think of this story and it feels like I’m taking a minute to remember the beautiful stone I laid in my pocket. It never left, and its beauty remained, but I can get forget about it if I never reach for it.
Love,
Alisha
