JoyKeeperSample

 Greater

When we look at old photos, there can be a range of emotions.

That hair! Those clothes. Why didn’t anyone tell us that fashion trend was so awful?

When I look at old photos, I see a long-legged, coltish teenager with a big smile. She newly called herself a believer and didn’t know she could be a world-changer. She didn’t have a rich spiritual heritage to hold up as a legacy, and she had no credentials. If you were to tell her there was a seat for her, she would struggle to believe you. She knew God loved her, and that was soul altering, but it didn’t seem possible that she could be a world-changer. Not when she looked at what everyone else brought to the team.

If I could go back, I’d tell that lanky teenager that belief in Christ is what changes the world, not one person alone. I’d tell her the church is filled with all kinds of people who stumble into the love of Christ. That it’s rich with an assortment of giftings, backgrounds, experiences, ethnicities, cultures, faith stories, levels of spiritual maturity, and personalities.

I’d point out that, like a pot of roiling jambalaya, there are many ingredients, a pinch of brokenness and a gallon of healing. It’s filled with work-in-progress people dealing with ego, pride, ambition, humility, and every other ingredient that comes with humanity.

Jesus knew that full well when he called us. Despite that, he spoke these words: “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father” (John 14:12 NLT).

Greater wasn’t more spectacular, it was a longer, more vast reach as one by one we fanned out in his name and shared the gospel year after year, until his return. Our differences are exactly what he uses to accomplish that.

Your story relates to one, and my story relates to another.

Your experience speaks into the heart of one, and my experience, another.

Jesus chooses weak and fragile things to reveal God’s greatness.

And as we live in him, we do greater things.

TRUTH: God has a seat for you.

REFLECTION: Find an old photo of yourself. Create a timeline of how far faith has brought you since that picture was taken. Share one story from that timeline with someone else.

#prayerstarter: Jesus, it’s easy to forget how far you’ve brought me. Thank you for every intervention, every miracle, every time you showed me something new. I love you so very much. In Jesus’s name, amen.

 We adapted this plan from another resource. Learn more at   http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/joykeeper/402080