For The Audience of One

Photo Credit- Vincent van Zalinge On Unsplash

 Life is beautiful. We are all in the process of growth and fulfilling our purpose in life. That exciting feeling of knowing you have something in your hand, something you can use to be an inspiration, and bless lives. A gift God has given you and you call it talent, or a skill. “How can I use this to change the world?” you ask. Little by little steps perhaps.

With great effort and commitment in the little steps, you aspire to change the world with this talent and skill. You give all you have, faith, hope, time, money etc. Sooner or later, the hard work pays off for all to see… in the life of one person.

Just one? Did I do all these for nothing?

The grasp of disappointment and frustration set tight root
in your heart, your mind is overwhelmed. ‘I wanted to change the world, I wanted
thousands of lives saved, is all the work I’m putting in not good enough or does
God not care?

Human beings always have to be reminded to be encouraged when
the effort put into doing something reflects in the life of one person or a few
people. Would we tell God to be consoled if after all he has placed in us and
in this world, it results in only one soul being saved? No. He takes pride in
the salvation of that one soul. He can leave the ninety-nine to save the one (Luke
15:3–7). The bible makes us understand that the host of heaven rejoices when
one soul is saved. Why then do we feel sad when our work gets the attention of
one?

“In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one
lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are
righteous and haven’t strayed away! “(New Living Translation)

Our mind may keep pondering, trying to understand how our
effort, our time, our strength, our words, everything we did and went through,
the amount of faith we put in didn’t suffice in drawing thousands at once. That’s
because we measure our greatness in the quantity/number, and not in quality. It’s
not in the number that applaud you for a job well done, but the life/lives changed
for the job well done. They are two different things.

It is not strange that everyone wants to draw a crowd, especially for something good. How can we get our crowd if we don’t recognize the first person that got there? Our first audience. When the good shepherd left the ninety-nine to save one, there might have been mountains he climbed, rivers he crossed, shrubs he had to tear down in search of that one. In his search and hard work, he could have found another ten or twenty along the way to replace the one lost, but there is something about that one that needed special attention than the rest.

Friends, don’t be discouraged by your audience, some
ministries might be existing for that very one. Wisdom, understanding and peace
of mind is all we ask for as we use our talent and skills for the greater good.