Feeling Insignificant?
“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” Luke 15:4
Ever feel totally insignificant in the grand scheme of things, like no matter how much you might love the Lord and desire to serve Him and to be used by Him, that whatever you do in your everyday life doesn’t seem to count compared with what everyone else who believes in Christ is doing? I had just plopped down on my stomach on my little bed, exhausted, and flipped to the back of a book I had picked up off my big yummy to-read pile of books. I love to read God’s Word more than anything, but I also love Christian books. So I looked forward to diving into this book I had found at a thrift shop. What did my eyes fall onto almost immediately on the back of the book? That the book’s three authors write devotionals that are apparently read by about 500,000 people daily. Argh. Ugh. Seriously? On a “good” day, my devotionals might be read by 80 people. But I’ve been known to write some devotionals that are read by about 20 or less. That doesn’t count the ones distributed in prison and to the homeless and on the streets and via others, but all told, the numbers are still exceedingly low, oh so unbelievably low. In the grand scheme of things anyway. In the world’s eyes. In my eyes. What about God’s?
But since when did loving and serving God become all about numbers? Who determined that 20 or less people in dire need of Christ, or one person who follows Jesus but could really use encouragement, are less important than the 500,000 people who apparently read those women’s devotionals? Or that one unknown evangelist and writer like myself is any less loved by God than the women loved, adored, and read by zillions of devotional readers? Didn’t Jesus go after the lost sheep? Does God judge us by how many people we help in Christ’s name for God’s glory, or does He simply desire that we humble ourselves before Him and obey Him, trusting He will reach whomever He desires how He desires through whom He desires when He desires for HIS glory and NOT for ours?
Since when did this become about us? Isn’t serving God supposed to be about Him? Yes! But if you’re like I am, you need to be reminded. Love, obedience, and service to God are about honoring Him, and our job is to listen to and follow Him regardless of whether He sends us out to reach one lost sheep or 500,000 people or simply wants us to stay home and humbly worship Him or merely rest in and enjoy His everlasting love as He readies us for wherever and to whomever He sends us next. This shouldn’t be about the grand scheme of things or what others do. It should be about Christ, and loving and obeying God above all else, shouldn’t it?