Sometimes God speaks in thunderous ways…and sometimes He speaks in a whisper. While I was preaching at a men’s breakfast last Saturday, I was convicted by my own words. In my message, I shared how the most effective lives are ones that are lived intentionally for Jesus with the end in mind. One of my points was that, “no matter what happens through our service to Jesus, we need to trust God with the outcomes.” I went on to say how we may never know this side of eternity what God was doing through our service. God doesn’t ask us to be successful, He only asks us to be faithful.
To illustrate this point, I shared an old story I have told many times about a 5 year old boy who went to a concert performance of a world renowned pianist with his mother. During the intermission, the mother looked over to the place where her son was supposed to be sitting only to discover that the boy was gone. As she frantically surveyed the concert hall looking for where her son might have gone, she noticed, to her relief and horror, her son sitting at the maestro’s piano bench.
Being a piano player himself for a whole 3 months, the little boy began playing the simplistic tune, “Chopsticks”. Some people in the crowd began to laugh, others booed and a few people yelled for the boy’s mother to get him off the stage. Just then, the maestro walked over to the piano, put his arms around the boy and whispered in the young piano player’s ears, “Whatever you do, don’t stop. Just keep playing!” The maestro then began to play the most beautiful melody in unison to the little boy’s “Chopsticks”. Everyone who heard this song said it was their favorite part of the entire evening.
I then shared in my sermon that sometimes in our lives we feel like we are only playing “Chopsticks,” but in reality, God is taking our simple acts of love and service and playing a beautiful medley. If I may be transparent with you, sometimes as a recruiter I feel like I’m just playing “Chopsticks” in my service to Jesus. As I pray for individuals to join this work, send out e-mails to perspective inquirers and talk to people about how they could serve God through the ministry of Bible Translation, people do not always respond in the way I hope they would. It is in these moments when I start second guessing myself and wondering if there is something more I could be doing to help the 272 million Bible-less peoples who have never heard a single verse of God’s Word. However, in this sermon, God simply whispered to me “Whatever you do, don’t stop! Just keep on playing…and trust me with the outcomes.”
My prayer is that God will continue to wrap His arms around this ministry and play the most beautiful sonnet through our simple acts of love and service for the Bible-less peoples.
To illustrate this point, I shared an old story I have told many times about a 5 year old boy who went to a concert performance of a world renowned pianist with his mother. During the intermission, the mother looked over to the place where her son was supposed to be sitting only to discover that the boy was gone. As she frantically surveyed the concert hall looking for where her son might have gone, she noticed, to her relief and horror, her son sitting at the maestro’s piano bench.
Being a piano player himself for a whole 3 months, the little boy began playing the simplistic tune, “Chopsticks”. Some people in the crowd began to laugh, others booed and a few people yelled for the boy’s mother to get him off the stage. Just then, the maestro walked over to the piano, put his arms around the boy and whispered in the young piano player’s ears, “Whatever you do, don’t stop. Just keep playing!” The maestro then began to play the most beautiful melody in unison to the little boy’s “Chopsticks”. Everyone who heard this song said it was their favorite part of the entire evening.
I then shared in my sermon that sometimes in our lives we feel like we are only playing “Chopsticks,” but in reality, God is taking our simple acts of love and service and playing a beautiful medley. If I may be transparent with you, sometimes as a recruiter I feel like I’m just playing “Chopsticks” in my service to Jesus. As I pray for individuals to join this work, send out e-mails to perspective inquirers and talk to people about how they could serve God through the ministry of Bible Translation, people do not always respond in the way I hope they would. It is in these moments when I start second guessing myself and wondering if there is something more I could be doing to help the 272 million Bible-less peoples who have never heard a single verse of God’s Word. However, in this sermon, God simply whispered to me “Whatever you do, don’t stop! Just keep on playing…and trust me with the outcomes.”
My prayer is that God will continue to wrap His arms around this ministry and play the most beautiful sonnet through our simple acts of love and service for the Bible-less peoples.
1 comment:
Awwww... they made a commercial out of your sermon illustration. Do you get any royalties for that one? :)
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