Over the last two days, I spent what amounted to two hours with one of today’s prominent theologians. While the time I shared with this person was broken up into twenty-minute fragments as I drove him to and from his destinations, he seized every moment. Asking poignant questions, offering insightful responses. Counseling and caring, he engaged and encouraged. After dropping him and his colleague off at the airport, I had some time to reflect on what had just happened. Here’s what I found:
We don’t have to come with our positional influence and pedigree to be impactful. We don’t have to flex, we don’t have to be right, we don’t have to boast. Humility is the place to begin. When we come with humility, we count others more significant than ourselves. When we have the heart of Christ, who humbled himself and did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (Phil 2:6), we bring others into the fold. We let them know they belong in the family. We tend to the needs of others, we lift others up, we count others more important than ourselves.
To make a difference in someone’s life, be faithful. Be faithful to point them back to the work of the Spirit, the finished work of Christ, the sovereignty of the Father. While conversations may lead to wrestling, grieving, frustration…be faithful to remind the person in front of you of the living hope found in a living Christ.
If you only have five minutes—or five 20 minute segments—use them all up to the glory of God. See someone needing encouragement? Encourage them. See someone in need of affirmation? Affirm them. See someone needing comfort? Comfort them. See someone needing hope? Remind them of Hope. See someone who needs to hear truth? Share truth. See someone hungry to philosophize about doctrine or process current issues in the Church? Engage the conversation. Use up every moment you have to the glory of God.
You might never know how your influence impacts another. These brief encounters breathed life and hope in me. Because of the time shared, the intentionality in the moment, the truth given, I was revived and reminded: I matter. The work I do matters. My presence matters and it is all significant in the great story God is writing.
Every encounter is an opportunity to nurture and nourish fertile ground. When we see someone capable of thriving, we have an opportunity to nurture their growth and nourish them with our presence, experience, and knowledge of God. We bring hope. We remind them to hold on and keep going and to trust the unfolding. We recall the nourishment found in the Word. We provide the nurturing care that our Father provides.
Far too often we move into this world from a place of selfish ambition. Far too often we look at other people as if they are too much work or too big of a project. Far too often we come to others thinking about ourselves and how we might be significant or make an impact. What if instead of thinking of our own agenda, we think of the greater agenda? What if instead of work, we saw one another as opportunity and privilege? What if instead of moving toward people with defense and apprehension, we let down our guard and saw them as people the Lord has given us to uncover more of who he is?
Our Father uses us as his tools to impact the lives of others. Tools to sow, to nurture, to nourish, to till, to harvest. I am left with this question: Will I be a tool he can use?