The True Value of Your Day?
Have you ever struggled with realizing the true value of what you do on an average day or week? Maybe you’re wondering if your efforts actually help someone else or if you’ve just another person blending into the culture and society we’ve become comfortable with. I struggle with my own worth more often than I should admit. Maybe you do as well.
I struggle with what I’m currently doing on a daily basis. How am I helping people today? Not only that, did I really help anyone while in youth ministry for 23 years. I was able to answer the last question while cleaning out a storage area in our house.
Going through old files I came across a single box filled with cards, letters, cards, notes and tokens of kindness from teens and parents. Every note was a kindness, a memory of how I at one point in my life, touched them and helped them spiritually. I read most of them over again and cried just a little.
I read notes from kids whom I know have since left the Christian faith completely. Others who’ve become complacent and are just blending into society and culture. To meet them today you’d never know they’d ever met Jesus personally. Then there were notes from others who’ve become missionaries, pastors and vibrant followers of the faith they have in Christ Jesus.
I’ve wondered what happened to many of the people Jesus healed. There are a few we know of who continued in following Jesus. There are many for whom we know absolutely nothing of their future.
Immediate Value and Long Term Value
In Matthew 12:9-13, Jesus is in the synagogue and there is a man with a withered hand. To make a point to the Pharisees, Jesus healed the man’s hand. Whatever happened to that man?
He was in the synagogue so he was there because he believed in God. We can only assume he was there to worship, pray, give alms, and so on. He did not approach Jesus for healing as Jesus chose him to make a point. He was obedient when asked to stretch out his hand. He was healed. Immediate value realized. Then what?
In Matthew 8:1-2, Jesus heals a man with leprosy. In Matt. 8:13, He heals the Centurion’s servant. In Matt. 8:14, He heals Peter’s mother-in-law. In Matt. 8:16, He casts out demons and heals many. The list goes on and on. Then what?
Again, all we can do is assume what happened to these people the following day. The blind man, no longer blind, suddenly has no reason to beg for help. He has no excuse not to work to help himself or his family. The man with the withered hand, now made whole, has no excuse not to look for work. He could no longer beg at the side of the road. There was no longer a reason for pity. He was a whole man, completely capable of contributing to society in any way.
Could their healing be bitter sweet? On the one hand, he is healed. On the other hand, he needs to become a productive part of society. He is suddenly just like everybody else. Did his ailment make him special? Did his healing make him less special? It all depends on how the healed responds the day after.
We may never realize the long term value of what we do.
Joni Erickson Tada broke her neck in a diving accident when she was sixteen years old. Despite her many pleas to God for healing she remains a quadriplegic. She has been quoted as saying (and I paraphrase), “I would rather be in this wheelchair and know Christ than to walk and never know Him.” Side note: I heard her speak live at the NAE about 20 years ago and never have I heard a better speaker in my life than her.
God has used her limitations to honor Him. How many people have been healed, only to blend back into society and culture? They got what they asked for outwardly and failed to grasp what can happen to their heart. Such healing should point others to Christ. Blending back into a culture will never accomplish this.
Every day since being healed, this man will look at a once-withered hand made whole and know he had a supernatural encounter with the Almighty. Over time, he will meet people who never knew he had a withered hand. His change won’t matter to the one who never knew him beforehand. He’ll know.
[bctt tweet=”How many people touched by Christ just blend back into society/culture? I don’t want to blend. Do you?” username=”@1billmcconnell”]
When Jesus touches us, He changes us. We are changed from the inside out. Changed people act differently, think differently, live differently. Wouldn’t they? Shouldn’t they?
I kept only one note from that box. It was the sentiments of the entire youth group after a trip we’d taken together. In it they noted the things I did that I thought no one noticed. I busted my butt off for them for an entire week so the trip would be just a little bit better for them. I tried to do things with in such a way that no one noticed, but they did. It’s hard to fool teenagers.
It reminded me that even in the little things, the small acts done over time, can be the things that truly touched a person’s life. It changes how they see you as a person. It points them to Christ as you live a life that strives to honor Christ.
Not one single note mentioned how great I was as a speaker. No note mentioned the ingeniously alliterated exegesis of a passage of scripture I preached with masterful delivery and insight. Hmmm.
The true value of your day is measured by your response to Jesus’ touch on your heart and life.
[bctt tweet=”The true value of your day is measured by your response to Jesus’ touch on your heart and life.” username=”@1billmcconnell”]
What you do as a checkout clerk makes a difference because of how you do it. What you do as a sales executive or a teacher or a construction worker matters because of how Christ has changed you. You’re in society, in the culture, but what’s in you, how Christ has changed you, should make all the difference in how you work at whatever you do.
[bctt tweet=”We may never realize the long term value of how we treat someone today. Therefore, treat everyone well.” username=”@1billmcconnell”]
In 2000 I restarted life as a divorcee and God gave me Isaiah 54 as a prophetic word. Recently on two consecutive weeks, this passage was read aloud in church. On hearing it the first time recently, God spoke to me about all the ways He had fulfilled this Scripture in the intervening years. I was blown away.
Often/usually, we don’t think much about how we serve, we just do it. But it was amazing for God to show me just how much He had done through my willingness to actively partner with Him in taking in many teens [1-3] at a time over many years, and to see what He had planted in in them through what He had me say/pray.
Simply LOVE being on His team as you obviously do too 🙂
Good story. Encouraging words. Thank you.