This past Saturday I celebrated fifty years on planet earth. My wife contacted friends from a wide array of my life stations and asked them to write letters which she could put into a book. Many of them were funny and some even harassed me. Can you believe that? But all of them touched me deeply. They reminded me that the most important thing we do today is simply try to live for Jesus and help others do the same. This book of letters choked me up and brought tears of joy to my eyes. Leah worked hard to make sure I knew that God had utilized my life to encourage others. I am indebted to my wife and my friends for reminding me of my purpose and keeping me focused on what matters.
In our world, we are told that you must make a big splash to leave a legacy. We see how celebrities get so much publicity and we think we need to be famous to make a difference. We see sports stars making commercials and having a huge platform from which to witness and we buy into the lie that says only those who are "Successful" in the worlds' eyes have anything to say. Even if the church, we have built a cult of success and the big deal. Every church conference I have ever attended has had a keynote speaker who is is a Christian celebrity or a pastor who started a church with a few people and now the church has thousands in attendance. I have never been to a conference where the speaker was the pastor of a small congregation who had served the congregation faithfully for years, even though there wasn't large numeric growth. I would love to listen to a pastor as the keynote speaker who got up to share his insights into being faithful when everything inside him told him he was a failure. It would be much more beneficial to hear a pastor who had seen growth in the disciples rather than growth in the size of the congregation.
This weekend reminded me that the smallest word of encouragement can make a huge impact in one person's life. It reminded me that my faithfulness is being observed by others. It reminded me that reaching out to others and showing that I not only love them, but also like them, can be a life-changing experience. It reminded me that the wake behind our boat of faithfulness will always be wider than we can see if we keep our focus on what is ahead of us rather than spending our lives in the past.
So I hope today you will make a choice to speak a kind word to someone. I pray that you will call up a brother or sister in Christ out of the blue and just tell them how much you appreciate their faithfulness. I pray you will take the time to listen to someone who is struggling and point them to Jesus. Just make an effort to have an impact on one life. The end result will be riches beyond this world which will give you strength to go on.
If I were planning to be buried (I plan on being cremated - But that's for another blog), I would want the following verse written on my tombstone. Philemon 1:7 "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints." My this Sip from the Well refresh you so that you can refresh others. You will never know until you get to Heaven the impact your smallest deed has made.
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