I am currently in the middle of month five out here on the World Race. These past months have been challenging and encouraging. I’ve seen church lived out in ways I haven’t seen before. I’ve seen the perseverance of brothers and sisters that inspire me to hope that great things are happening in the kingdom of God. And it’s this idea of ‘great things for God’ that has got me thinking lately.
What does doing something ‘great’ for God look like? Because for me it’s easy to think that becoming a full time ministry worker (pastor, missionary, ect.) or doing something like the World Race is doing something great. But the more I look back over my life and the more time I spend seeing the body of Christ abroad I am reminded again of how God works. (Please don’t waste time thinking I am denigrating ministry work or the World Race… I am not).
From what I read in the Bible and from what I have experienced in my own life God is doing something in the moments that most people (the world and Christians alike) often miss. He is in the still small voice (1 Kings 19:12). He is in a manger (Luke 2:7). He is hanging on a cross (John 19:18). He is weeping with us as we grieve loss (John 11:33-35) and He is still standing with us on those days we lose hope (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
God was with me at home in the US as much as He was ever with me in China, Laos, or here on the Race. To paraphrase something I read recently: He sees potential wherever we are. He sees fit to use all of us no matter what we are doing.
As they told us in the days before we left for the Race this trip should not be the greatest thing we do over the course of our lives. But that begs the question what is or should be? All I’ve really got at this point is that it is in the small, everyday, unnoticeable people and activities that more often than not has God’s attention and praise. By choosing every day to follow Him and seek His presence He is pleased.
Sometimes God teaches me something while I am reading Scripture or praying. But just as many times He teaches me something in the middle of a moment where I least expect to hear or see Him.
So I guess the point of this rambling post is this. I came out on the Race hoping to see and do great things for God. I forgot He was already doing mighty things without me. I forgot He was already doing great things within me simply because I have His Spirit within me. I need to remember its not about feelings or even in seeing a miracle. It’s not about me. It’s only and always about Him.
The World Race is a great vehicle for God to use. But its not better or worse than all the millions of other ways He is using to build His kingdom and glorify Himself. So this is what He has been teaching me and hopefully could be of help to you: be encouraged that as you follow Him you are where you are supposed to be, doing what you should be doing, wherever you are.
