No Insignificant Work
Some days - most days - when I look at the world around me, I'm completely overwhelmed. I'm frightened to live in a society that calls evil good and good evil. That deems those as heroes who forsake their natural, God-given condition for that which is unnatural. Where the very structure of family is crumbling and children are growing up in broken homes, never experiencing what it means to feel safe and to feel loved. A world that does not value the life of an unborn child yet protects the life of the eagles.
I watch videos like this and realize how small my little world in western North Dakota is. How there is so much hurt and so much sin and so much suffering in the world. How desperately our nation and the far-reaching ends of the world that I will likely never see, filled with people I will likely not meet, need Jesus.
But then, in these moments, I am reminded.
I am reminded that I am known. That there is One who is intimately acquainted with all of my ways - who knows silly, insignificant things like when I sit down and when I rise up. One who knows my future as well as my past and who hides it all in the palms of His hands. One whose thoughts towards me are more numerous than all the grains of sand on all the beaches in all the world. One who gave His Son to redeem my life.
And this is not just me. I am not the only one this One knows and loves and redeems.
He knows those desperate, hurting, confused souls. He knows the hungry, thirsty orphans. He knows those lost deep in sin who think there is no way out.
When I consider the depth of His knowledge about the 7.1 billion people on this earth -- it makes every life, every soul matter. Each one has value and worth and is precious in His sight.
As I work as a stay-at-home mom and pour my life out into our children like a drink offering, though it may seem monotonous, ordinary, expected, not-world-changing and mountain moving; I am raising lovers of Jesus and disciples of the One true God.
No matter what I do, no matter how I find myself involved in the work of Christ - be it things that seem to be soul-winning, disciple-making, things where we see the fruit of our work - or simply praying to live a life filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit to reach my literal neighbor across the street and next door - the work is significant.
Although I feel overwhelmed, frightened and insignificant, I am not at this alone. We are the body of Christ. As we live lives filled with and led by the Spirit, being faithful with what the Lord has entrusted to us where He as placed us, the world can be reached.
One by one.
I watch videos like this and realize how small my little world in western North Dakota is. How there is so much hurt and so much sin and so much suffering in the world. How desperately our nation and the far-reaching ends of the world that I will likely never see, filled with people I will likely not meet, need Jesus.
And I feel so small.So lost in this sea of billions. So unable to make any change in the whirlpool of desperation.
But then, in these moments, I am reminded.
I am reminded that I am known. That there is One who is intimately acquainted with all of my ways - who knows silly, insignificant things like when I sit down and when I rise up. One who knows my future as well as my past and who hides it all in the palms of His hands. One whose thoughts towards me are more numerous than all the grains of sand on all the beaches in all the world. One who gave His Son to redeem my life.
And this is not just me. I am not the only one this One knows and loves and redeems.
He knows those desperate, hurting, confused souls. He knows the hungry, thirsty orphans. He knows those lost deep in sin who think there is no way out.
"O LORD, You have searched me and known me...
[You] are intimately acquainted with all my ways...
You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me...
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?...
You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb...
In Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand." - (Psalm 139:1, 3, 5, 7, 13, 16-18)
When I consider the depth of His knowledge about the 7.1 billion people on this earth -- it makes every life, every soul matter. Each one has value and worth and is precious in His sight.
And so, there is no insignificant work in His kingdom.
As I work as a stay-at-home mom and pour my life out into our children like a drink offering, though it may seem monotonous, ordinary, expected, not-world-changing and mountain moving; I am raising lovers of Jesus and disciples of the One true God.
No matter what I do, no matter how I find myself involved in the work of Christ - be it things that seem to be soul-winning, disciple-making, things where we see the fruit of our work - or simply praying to live a life filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit to reach my literal neighbor across the street and next door - the work is significant.
Every encounter matters. Because every life - every soul - matters.
There is no insignificant work in the Kingdom because there is no insignificant soul.
Although I feel overwhelmed, frightened and insignificant, I am not at this alone. We are the body of Christ. As we live lives filled with and led by the Spirit, being faithful with what the Lord has entrusted to us where He as placed us, the world can be reached.
One by one.
"Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy." - 1 Corinthians 4:1-2
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