Each month I try to reflect on what I have been able to accomplish in my mission work and personal life. This month has had some trying moments and a few disappointments when some goals I had fell through, but God encouraged me with some of the following thoughts.
The famous quote by John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you but rather what you can do for your country,” could be paraphrased for Christians: “Ask not what God can do for you, but rather what God can do with you.” Since I was a child, I always wanted to do great things for God, to be used in some great way, but as I’ve gone through life, I’ve seen that, for most of us who love God, it’s not going to be the great and showy things, but rather the small, sometimes seemingly insignificant things that go the furthest in showing His love to others.
When a woman entered a house and poured costly oil on Jesus’ feet shortly before His crucifixion, some of His own disciples criticized her, but this is what Jesus said about her: “She has done what she could.” And He went further: “Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”1
My prayer is that I will continue to do what I can even if it seems small, even if it is unseen, even if it seems insignificant. So many times throughout the Bible, small deeds are used to teach a great lesson; for example, when Jesus “looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites (a fraction of a cent). So He said, ‘Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.’”2
What that story tells me is that in addition to not making our relationship with God about what He can do for us, I also don’t have to worry that I’m not doing enough for Him. I can just focus on doing what I can and allowing my faith to grow in case He has more in store for me to do in the future.