The Good Right in Front of You

What have you done for someone, anyone, that they cannot repay you?

Let me give you a moment to think.

Life is never really complete until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. There is something deeply beautiful about giving without expecting anything in return. About showing up for someone who has nothing to offer you in exchange. About pouring into a life simply because God has placed an opportunity in front of you to do so.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God

prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:10

You and I were not created without purpose. We were not simply placed on this earth to

exist, make a living, accumulate things, and pass on. There are good works that God prepared beforehand for you to walk in. You are the solution to a real-life problem.

And oftentimes, the problems God has equipped you to solve aren't big, dramatic

problems. They won't make the news. They might not earn you recognition. They

likely won't be noticed by anyone else.

It might be something as little as reconciling two friends who are fighting. It could be

giving yourself up to help in your church's children's department because there simply aren't enough hands to serve. It could be being the smiling face, encouraging pat, or listening ear to children at a rundown children's home outside of town. It could be buying a meal for someone who has been quietly going without. It could be sitting with someone who is grieving when everyone else has gone home. It could be teaching, mentoring, giving, serving, encouraging, praying, or simply noticing someone whom everyone else has overlooked.

There is need everywhere.

And YOU are equipped to help out.

Sometimes we overlook these ‘tiny’ problems because we want a grand assignment

when God has already opened our eyes to tinier problems within our capacity to solve.

You may not be able to solve every problem, but there is a problem that your presence,

your gift, your time, your resources, your kindness, or your willingness to serve can

make a little easier for someone else.

You don't have to wait until you have more money.

You don't have to wait until you have a bigger platform.

You don't have to wait until you are more grown up or you have everything figured out.

You don't have to wait until someone asks you.

Look around you.

Who needs what you have?

Who needs the encouragement you can give?

Who needs the knowledge you have acquired?

Who needs the little time you can spare?

Who needs the kindness you can extend?

Who needs the prayer you can offer?

Who needs the opportunity you can create?

And perhaps most importantly, because we often help people that we know and love, people that can pay us back in some way---who can you help that will never be able to repay

you?

That is exactly where the beauty of good works lies. You do it knowing there may be no

applause, no recognition, no repayment and no guarantee that anyone will ever know

you were the one who helped.

But God knows.

The good work may seem small to you...God has never been measured obedience by

how impressive something looks to other people.

So, this weekend, ask yourself:

What problem has God equipped me to help solve?

And when you find it, don't just pray about it.

Do something.