The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
(We will return to our series on Conformity and Confession tomorrow)
"To the 99.99…"
… % of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ known only in their relatively small venues of influence with family, friends, fellow believers, neighbors, colleagues, and those with whom they cross paths during their earthly lifetime. Most of the work of the body of Christ occurs through these, the unknown, but also the vastly influential in their effect and influence. Having known so many such ones throughout my life, I can attest to the blessedness of those largely obscure, without neglecting the relatively few notable figures in the history of Christendom and the blessing of their lives and ministries.
Consider the Apostle Paul's strong affirmation of the Thessalonians in both his epistles to them - without mentioning even one Thessalonian individual by name:
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father" (I Thessalonians 1:2-3).
"We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure" (II Thessalonians 1:3-4).
Charles Dickens, in "A Christmas Carol," also speaks beautifully to the truth of how much God does through the largely obscure, unknown, and forgotten. Marley, in his challenge to Scrooge, sublimely declares…
"Any Christian spirit, working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness."
Our venue and calling, seemingly ordinary as it may appear, becomes a vastly strategic endeavor if an extraordinary Christ dwells and walks in us (II Corinthians 6:9). What might He do of eternal consequence and infinitely significant purpose as we trust and submit to Him for the glory of God and the blessing of others? God only knows. We can be sure, however, that faithfulness in unknown and forgotten byways will one day loom large when we better realize how God works in ways easily missed if we do not expect His working through "a lad here with five loaves and two fish" (John 6:9). A boy unnamed, with not enough bread and not enough fish to feed five thousand. But enough Lord Jesus Christ. More than enough Lord Jesus Christ. As there is in our venue and calling, however small and inconsequential it may appear. Or however small and inconsequential as we may appear.
The presence and working of the Lord Jesus in us means that "a vast means of usefulness" graces our hearts and hands as we trust and submit to Him. The history of the church tells us this, as the 99.99 quietly fulfill labors in the Lord's vineyard, working in ways seen by few, if any. God sees, God works, and God glorifies His Son thereby. Just as we would expect in a life of seeking to honor Him only, and lived "by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7). To the 99.99…
"The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence."
(I Corinthians 1:25-29)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments; for therein do I delight."
(Psalm 119:35).
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