Unveiling Hope

The Great "What if"

I’ve been reading and studying the Book of Jeremiah these past days. Jeremiah was a prophet who was faithful and obedient in speaking the words of God for 40 years. There is no record in the Bible that suggests that anyone ever heeded the warnings he gave. There is no record that he ever got through to a single soul. What is clear in reading this book is that Jeremiah remained faithful to his calling throughout 40 years of persecution despite suffering rejection, humiliation, imprisonment and torture.

Many people I know seem to be growing through a season; I am growing in it to. It has taken rereading Jeremiah to remind me that my calling has little to do with me and more to do with He who has called me. It’s reminded me that I am merely a vessel.

As Christians we are called to spread seed, not to choose the soil, not to till the soil, nor to wait for growth. No farmer ever sits in his field, after sowing seed, waiting for it to grow. There are other things that need to be done, and other seeds that need to be planted in the proper season.

It occurs to me, perhaps not often enough, that the fruit of my labour is not my harvest yet I seem to repeatedly find myself waiting around, hoping to see something grow. The other day, a friend and I were discussing this situation. What if not a single person is ever blessed by anything we ever do or say in our life? What if we continue on for the next forty years and we don’t see a single seed sprout?

Am I not content enough to simply be a vessel and carry what I’m called to carry – and that’s the end of it? I’m a results oriented person. The satisfaction of seeing a job I’ve done succeed motivates me to continue, or to pursue other areas in which I can use my talents. But the Great “what if” is this: what if my life resembles that of Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet? What if the only results I see are those that I will see in Heaven? What if at the end of my life here, and the beginning of my life with Him, the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” are the results of a life committed to serving my purpose? Will that be enough for me between now and then?

I’m no different than the next person. I like a pat on the back just as much as anyone. Success motivates me. What I’ve learned however from Jeremiah is that my joy should come from the delight the Lord takes in me everyday that I am faithful and obedient, regardless of the results. This kind of joy kills the pride that would like nothing more than to boast that it has taken root and grown in me.

But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord,” Jeremiah 9:24.

Kingdom Investments

 

As they passed by a poor man, begging for alms in the street, Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you.” The rest of the verse reads, “‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong,” Acts 3:6-7.

Jesus poured out three years of His life into teaching His disciples. He prepared them for life and He prepared them for their mission. He prepared them to prepare others and make them strong. Jesus invested of Himself into others. He told his disciples that they were to do as He did – and this is how people would know them as His.

A person cannot profess to love God and not love and care about what He loves and cares about. There are generations arising that will soon be fighting our battles for us. They are tomorrows warriors; we need to prepare them and help make them strong. I am part of a generation that may not be around to fight for them and one of my biggest worries is that they won’t know how to fend for themselves or others.

I don’t have silver or gold to give the future generations but I do have gifts that have been bestowed upon me for no other reason than to encourage, equip and edify the Body of Christ. This is really the only legacy I have to leave behind and because it originates in my heart, I get to take it with me when I leave this earth. There are times I think that my investment in the younger generations are far greater a treasure to me than to those I serve.

I get to leave this earth knowing that I’ve made a solid contribution that really cost me very little in the grand scheme of things. God is a god of exponential multiplication and I know that the little I do He can stretch out far greater than my imagine can run with it.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” Matt. 6:19-21.

Knowing Ida

 

   

I wonder if you know Ida. I wonder if you know Ida as well as I do. You know ... if IDA only known then what I know now...If IDA turned right instead of left...If IDA only listened to that advice I was given. I know Ida well and sometimes I believe too well.

Here’s the issue: as a parent, I don’t want my boys to get to know IDA too intimately. I don’t want my friends to know her or my colleagues. They say that hindsight is 20/20 and adversity is a stepping stone to knowledge and while I recognize the truth in both those expressions, the last thing I want on my conscience is someone asking me, “Why didn’t you tell me, or warn me?

In the more benign things of life, my children ignore me. “Where a coat – it’s cold out!” How can I possibly expect anyone else to listen to common sense when I never did? My child shivering on the way home from school is something I can pooh-pooh away. A friend getting pulled over because his tail light is still burnt out ... expensive lesson to learn but hey you can only “suggest” so much.

Lately however I cannot help but see what is going on in the world and think to myself – it’s coming – the contractions are growing closer and closer together. In all honesty, before I became a Christian I never really gave eternity a thought. I assumed that because I believed that God existed I would end up in heaven. I know differently now. And while there is a sense of urgency – I believe – I can’t really stand on a street corner with a sandwich board hanging over my shoulder that read, “Accept Christ as your Saviour before it’s too late!”

I feel compelled to do something more than what I’m doing now. The question is: what? What do I do? What can I do? I know that I’m not anyone’s saviour but I am a sower and I guess I’m questioning whether I’m sowing enough. It’s not as if I’m planting wheat and I know how deep into the soil to plant.

This fear of knowing that people I know and care about might not end up in heaven sometimes consumes my thoughts. I don’t want to meet Jesus and say, “If only IDA realized – if only IDA known.” Are you ready?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son,” John 3:16-18.

Will You? Can You?

She was a shy woman, desperate for a friend, longing for another human being to walk alongside her. She heard the words spoken from the wise man in the pulpit, “look around, step out, take a chance,” but she could not. She was just not quite there yet.

There came a woman who saw a need. She reached out, but the shy woman could not take her hand. In the secret places of her heart she whispered, “please don’t give up on me,” while fear overcame her taunting her to push the other away.

Each Sunday the woman hoped that the other would see fit to look past the barricade that surrounded her. One Sunday at a time, the bricks of the wall began to come down. The Persistent Hand of God was reaching down through the kindness of one of His children.

That shy woman was me. The woman who saw the need was my friend Gail. Gail kept reaching out when others gave up. She saw something worthwhile. She walked through the gates of her own personal comfort into unknown territory; she stepped out. She was obedient. She loved me in a way that no other, besides God, had tried. She was the human expression of His love, exemplifying the second greatest commandment by her words and actions.

It’s been almost five years since Gail took that walk with me. From God’s perspective, it was more than one woman befriending another. God was training me. I was being lead by example. This past summer, I too felt a calling. “Look for someone who can’t seem to make the first move. Look for someone who longs to be loved by me and express my love to her. Walk with her.”

I’m still that shy woman and that may never change. But I know one thing for certain, we cannot profess to know the love of God and not express it to others. God never let Moses get comfortable, or Joshua, or Gideon, or Esther, or Paul; He’s not about to accept it from us.

Wherever you are right now in your walk there is someone who feels exactly like I once did perhaps how you once did. They don’t feel as if they belong, but they want to; they need a walking partner. Will you – can you – stand back and do nothing?

“And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14.