Day 20: The One
Billy Graham’s name is a household name. What that means is that in a high majority of homes, Christian or not, they would know who Billy Graham was. It is estimated that Graham’s crusades led over 3.2 million people to Christ stateside, and by the time of his death the number was estimated to be over 210 million people worldwide. Could you imagine his reception in heaven? George Whitefield is an evangelist who is credited in helping spark the Great Awakening in the 1700s seeing 10 million people turned to Christ in the American colonies giving faith and boldness to many of the founding fathers of America.
When you hear those names and those numbers it is almost overwhelming to think about having that kind of fruit. It seems like a mountain that for us mere mortals is impossible to climb. We have a tendency when presented with something that seems too big for us to not even start the journey. Whether it is getting in shape, building a business empire, overcoming addiction, getting out of debt and building generational wealth, or winning loads of people to Jesus, all those end goals seem so hard and so far down the line, many times we talk ourselves out of ever starting the journey.
God has called us to have an impact in our world. He has trusted us with gifts and abilities to share His message to those around us who He has entrusted us. Some of us may even have the potential of impacting millions. But how can we do that, you ask? One step at a time. It is the same way that you build empires, overcome addiction, and get that six pack of abs you’ve always wanted. Honestly, it’s how you live a sanctified life empowered by the Holy Spirit. You keep stacking one day at a time with laser-like focus on your goals. One day at a time, one soul at a time, one family at a time, one community at a time. That’s how you change the world, by being the one who is focused on one step at a time. Stacking one on top of the other and seeing where it leads.
When the children of Israel had returned to the promised land after they were exiled, Zerubbabel was tasked to rebuild the Temple of God. A task that was a huge undertaking back then was laid on his shoulders. Look what God says through the prophet Zechariah.
Zechariah 4: 8 Then another message came to me from the Lord: 9 “Zerubbabel is the one who laid the foundation of this Temple, and he will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me. 10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”
Do not despise the small beginnings. Man, that is so encouraging for us when it comes to living out our faith and being fruitful. When we talk about being fruitful for God, sometimes we picture vast orchards or gardens, but it all starts with a small beginning. That beginning for us is deciding to live out our faith one day at a time, impacting one person at a time. Keep stacking the one. Be the one who makes an impact.
It may seem daunting to live a sanctified life, or to live a life of intentional gospel sharing, or even answer God’s call on your life. I can assure you, God doesn’t expect you to be a finished product today. He is calling us on a journey, one step at a time. We tend to look at the saints in our life and see their polished faith and think to ourselves, “I’ll never be like that.” It’s funny, because every one of them would tell you that God’s still working on them. Even the ones who have built churches that run in the thousands. We are all called to relationship with God one step at a time. We are all called to be fruitful one step at a time. With humble, or small, beginnings like a mustard seed, we can grow and become massive movements for God.
Matthew 17: 20 …For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
If we are ever going to reach our full potential for the Kingdom, we must have a God-sized goal and the vision to see it accomplished. That is for the Church and for each Christian. The goal should be so large that it would be impossible without God showing up. It should be a little scary! However, it should not stop us from climbing the mountain or telling it to move. When we focus on the One, one step, and one impact it makes everything possible. Daily walk with the Lord, daily focus on His work in your life, daily live out your faith in relationship with those you meet, and daily invite them to know Jesus, and at the end of our days there will be an impact that looks so big, it seems impossible that it is ours. Keep stacking ones. Know The One, take the one step, live the one day, impact the one life, change the one family, build a legacy of Kingdom impact. If we do that, we will be an unstoppable force of fruitfulness for God.