It’s amazing how humans crave attention. How often we want to be noticed, acknowledged, recognised and congratulated for our efforts, good deeds, talents or gifts. Many times throughout the race, I have felt myself wanting credit, thanks and acknowledgement from individuals that I think I impacted; forgetting that it was really God who had given me this opportunity to share His love. However, every time I think I deserve recognition, I don’t get it and it’s really disappointing.
One example happened last month in our hostel when I met a really nice guy that lived in my hometown. He wasn’t a believer but we had some fantastic conversations about life, the world, Jesus and how He fits into the bigger picture. We ended one night deciding to exchange books: his book – ‘The Meaning of Life’ and my book – ‘The Bible.’ I didn’t want to give him my personal bible as it was all messy and underlined so I asked my squad if they had a spare bible or knew of a place that I could purchase one. Crazily enough, God had prearranged a bible for me through one of my squad mate’s mum who brought one over for her daughter to give to someone that would need it. It was perfect timing and I ended up writing a little note in the bible with my details and left some money for him as I knew he was low on cash for the rest of his travels. I gave it to him just before we left the hostel and since then, I’ve been checking my email to see if he had written me a note to say thanks or was ready to give his life to Jesus.
I haven’t received anything, and every day I ask myself why he hasn’t done it. Why doesn’t he want to be friends with me or stay in contact? Did he not like my gift? Did he not appreciate the money I generously gave him? Did he even open the bible I gave him? When I find myself being disappointed, God continues to remind me that this situation is in His hands and all I can do is pray for him. Even though I may never reap what I’ve sown or be acknowledged for what I’ve done, God humbles and reminds me that He was the one that used me to reach this guy. “…The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). He gave me His loving and compassionate heart to spend time and give money to this guy, not because I was able and had those qualities already, but because He loved this guy and I was available. He also reminds me that even though people don’t notice my obedience in following Jesus’ example, He does and His attention and recognition is all that matters.
God is such a good God though. Even though He knows we don’t need recognition from others, He still gives it to us when we least expect it. ‘And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so that they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.”’ (Joshua 3:7). God exalted me when I least expected it on our last few days in Swaziland. Our contact thanked me personally in front of my whole squad for intentionally hanging out and having conversations with her daughter. It was funny because it was my job to hang out with her as she was my buddy and I seriously wasn’t doing that great of a job compared to my other squad mates who were spending every second of the day with their kids. I was such a real gift though, and it was definitely God who had spoken through her to encourage me. There have been so many other incidences on the race and during team time where people have recognised and acknowledged things that I’ve done that I thought I did a terrible job at or wasn’t a “big deal”.
God wants to shower you with His love and wants to tell you that you ARE special and deserve to be noticed, acknowledged, recognised and congratulated. He wants to give you ALL of His attention. We just need to be willing to accept it and believe that His acknowledgement is the only one that matters and that sometimes, He uses people to share it with us.
God loves you a lot and wants you to want His attention. Will you accept it?
