Matthew 10:16

No selfless act is so small, no
good deed so insignificant, that God cannot see and does not approve.

After all, what we
do as God’s servants is not for human eyes. It is not for our own glory that
faithful service is so clearly prescribed throughout Scripture. It is for the
glory of God and God alone. Our God has given us the incredible honor of being
His stewards to carry out the work of Jesus Christ through faithful service—in
our neighborhoods, across the nation we live in, and around the world.

It is, in fact,
the very substance of the Great Commission which tells us that we are to
transmit the gospel to others, not only in our confession of Christ but by
displaying in our lives a daily example of Christ’s love.

Think about it.
When Jesus sent out that first group of wide-eyed and uncertain rustics on their
first missionary adventure, don’t you know they were terrified? Can’t you just
imagine what they must have been thinking?

“What?” Peter must
have fairly shouted. “Who, me, Lord? You want me to go into the villages and
towns and do what you have been doing? Jesus, you’ve got to be kidding!”

But that is
precisely what Jesus wanted. Furthermore, He admonished those uncertain,
quivering disciples to be “shrewd as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew
10:16). In other words, they were to anticipate that they would not be treated
well everywhere they went. In some places, they were told, people would toss
them out on their ears; but they were supposed to go anyway, trusting that God
would supply all their needs.

They were to teach
with love and mercy—to be harmless as doves, to be examples of peace.

Are you that way
when you preach?

—Chuck