We always know when Jesus is at work because
He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring. (1)
Yesterday after teaching a class on Living in the Spirit, for the Men’s Recovery program at the Rockford Rescue Mission, I was feeling a bit of smug pride that I had taught so well.
As my students departed one of them came forward saying, “Here’s the way I see it!” He erased a portion of my scribbled drawings, add a few lines and circles of his own. By doing so, he illuminated the teaching of scripture in a better way.
Oswald Chambers speaks of the ministry of the unnoticed when he comments on Jesus’ teaching, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” (2)
In the past (and I am certain, into the future), I have prided myself on my ministry to the unnoticed. In a quiet and humble way, I want others to notice when I am ministering to the unnoticed.
But this is not what Jesus was teaching. He was teaching something much deeper, richer, more profound.
The poor in spirit are a blessing because they draw attention to God and not to themselves when they minister to others in simple commonplace ways.
Big things draw attention, but it is the little things which change the world.
The servant of Christ is never bigger than the person he serves!
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Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).
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Matthew 5:3.
Bread Crumbs - Devotions for Life 