“I was blind but now I see”. This famous line, from my favorite song of all time, “Amazing Grace” portrays a powerful metaphor. Beyond simply doing the right thing, John Newton, reveals his motivation for this radical turn. Whereas, once he was a prosperous slave trader, treating men, women, and children like cattle, he was suddenly bathed in an epiphany. He suddenly knew that there was something so much bigger and infinitely more powerful than this life, that beyond this world, there is another.
Obviously, it was Christ, who tugged on the heartstrings of the hardened slaver, but we mustn’t dismiss the choice that still had to be made.
Even in the error of our ways, and within miraculous encounters, there is a choice that must be made by each individual. Will you choose to believe in something you cannot see with your eyes but can feel with your heart?
“Walk by faith, not by sight”.
“Without faith, it’s impossible to please God.” That means that if you continue to live a pre-planned, risk-free life you can never hope to please God. Now that does not mean you are called to pack up your family and move to the other side of the world. However, maybe you are called to pray for the man or woman sitting and begging on the side of the street. Maybe you are meant to pray for healing for your boss, or take over yard/garden duties for the widow down the street. Maybe, it’s taking in a foster child or adoption? Or forgiving someone who has hurt you?
All these options only make sense if you are operating from a mindset of a man or woman whose heart follows the priorities of the spiritual rather than the physical.
Helping your fellow man makes the world around you a better place, but not why you think. If you uplift the man or woman around you, it has been shown, proven and spoken about time and again that the servant, the giver, the one making the sacrifice is always much happier and satisfied than the recipient; virtually every time! What this does is create a beachhead for a spiritual presence whenever you operate out from spiritual eyes rather than physical. Not only does it become even easier to repeat the same spiritual, loving action a second and third time, but your commitment and joy also draws others into a desire for the same attitude and joy. Hopefully, creating a “pay it forward” attitude.
This is why local missions for every church is vital! If you’re only traveling long distances to minister to those far from your neighborhood you put in all the work and sacrifice of creating beachheads, but then never truly invading. But if you are creating a beachhead in the neighborhood surrounding your church, at your workplace, gym or neighborhood, you can continue to walk by faith, your spirit, into a cause bigger than you, with eternal ramifications:
One person at a time you will change the course of eternity.
Could you imagine if the allies invaded Normandy, set up their bases, then went back to England, had some drinks and patted one another on the back for a job well done? Of course not. They could not see their objective or the face of their true enemy, but the allies knew that even if they died, the next man up would take their place and finish the mission. Every soldier who fought their way through Europe, did so on the faith that they would succeed, even though it was beyond sight.
That’s faith.
And how about you?
Ready to take a risk?
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