Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”
Our Bible verse for today: “So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Making a lasting difference usually takes time.”
At CERT International we have been sending small medical and dental teams into the restricted region of the Amazon Jungle to conduct free medical and dental clinics for the Machiguenga Indians for more than 15 years. Although the healthcare was needed, and it did make a difference, our ultimate goal was to share the Gospel and lead people to faith in Christ. That, however, proved to be extremely difficult.
One of the restrictions the Peruvian government places upon our teams in order to go into the restricted region is that we can not openly proselytize. If the Indians initiate the conversation by asking questions about our faith, then we are free to answer their questions. But we cannot be the ones to start it. As a result, there was very little spiritual progress made for most of those 15 years. Or so we thought.
In February 2015 our team discovered a new spiritual openness among the Indians which we had never seen before. They did ask questions, there was an interest in the Gospel, and the mayor of one village even encouraged us to talk to his people. In that village they are now constructing a small chapel.
It turns out that over all those years the Holy Spirit was using the faithful and compassionate service of our team members to make an impression on the hearts of the Indians. And in time, their resistance faded and the fruit was reaped.
Author Eric Greitens, sharing his own observations about work in long-term refugee camps wrote, “Great things are won and lasting things are built not in a flash of action but in a long, slow, quiet series of everyday acts performed over a lifetime of steady effort. It is, in fact, the courage to do the thing that we must do, day after day, that enables us to meet the greatest challenges. Lives flourish and justice is done by the steady force of human beings who proceed with a quiet, persistent courage.”
It’s easy to get discouraged when it seems as if our best efforts are producing little. But many times it’s simply a matter of keeping at it and in time, the results will come. I encourage you to hang in there and keep doing the thing God has called you to do. Whatever it is, don’t give up. Do what you need to do; do it with strength and compassion and persistence; and trust the Lord for the outcome. Making a lasting difference usually takes time.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 