I have heard it said,
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do
something. What I can do, I ought to do. What I ought to do, by the grace of
God, I will do."
One godly man or woman
can make a dramatic difference, even in the darkest of circumstances. Jesus put
it this way:
"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt
if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out
and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world-like a city
on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under
a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way,
let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your
heavenly Father." (Matthew 5:13 NLT)
Our Lord is telling us
that we, like salt, should make a difference in the situations we are in. Just
as a little salt can either improve or worsen the flavor of something, a little
influence can go a long way.
You might be the only
Christian in your family . . . or the only Christian in your workplace . . . or
the only Christian in your classroom . . . or the only Christian in your neighborhood.
In fact, you may be trying to get out of an uncomfortable situation in which
you find yourself.
But you may have been
put there by the Lord to be an influence and, in a godly way, to move people in
the right direction. God can do a lot with a little.
We have heard of
people like Dr. Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ
International; and D. L. Moody, the great evangelist of his time; and of
course, Billy Graham. But have you ever heard of Edward Kimball or Henrietta
Mears?
Without Edward
Kimball, there never would have been a D. L. Moody. Kimball was a shoe
salesman. He worked at a shoe store in Chicago and felt led by the Lord to
share the gospel with young Dwight, a fellow salesman.
Dwight responded to
the message, gave his heart to Jesus Christ, and ultimately went on to be the
greatest evangelist of his generation. It was because of Edward Kimball's
faithfulness to share the gospel that the Lord reached D. L. Moody, who in turn
reached millions.
What about Henrietta
Mears? In 1928, she was called to teach a Sunday school class at the First
Presbyterian Church in Hollywood. Under her direction, the class grew from 400
to 4,000. She later went on to found Gospel Light Publishing and Forest Home
Christian Conference Center in Southern California. Of the people she
influenced, 400 went into full-time Christian service. Among them were Bill
Bright and Billy Graham.
It is the power of
one. Our lives can make a difference. In Ezekiel 22:30 God says, "I looked
for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I
searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to
destroy the land, but I found no one" (NLT).
God is looking for
that one who can make his or her mark.
You may be the only
Christian whom some people will ever know. The fact is that God can do a lot
with a little.
If you don't believe
me, just ask that boy who was willing to share his lunch one day and saw Jesus
feed 5,000 people, plus women and children, with his little meal. Or spend some
time in the Book of Exodus, where you'll find the story of one man who lived
such a godly life that, for all practical purposes, he kept two-and-a-half
million people from turning to full-tilt idolatry. His name was Moses.
God is just looking
for one-someone like you, someone like me. Will you be that one person?
We all would love to
be a Billy Graham, D. L. Moody, or Bill Bright. Maybe you will be. But would
you be willing to at least be an Edward Kimball or a Henrietta Mears?
Would you be willing
to do what you can, where you are, with the influence that God has given you?
Never underestimate the power of one.
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