I remember the night we had the privilege of having our visiting missionaries in our home for a light lunch. I LOVE having missionaries around my table! The conversation is incredible. I am challenged and convicted. This particular night I was encouraged.
As we chatted, dear brother Milo Tomas told us about a tract that he has written and distributed in the Philippines – hundreds of thousands of them. However, at one point he was disturbed that though there had been so many handed out, he had not heard of one person that had come to Christ as a result of it. His heart was heavy. He felt discouraged.
Then one day he was in a class of missionary trainees and he shared that fact – that no one had come to know Christ because of the distribution of his tract. At that moment a hand was raised and a man said to Milo,
“You are wrong!”
“I’m wrong? How so?” Milo inquired.
“I got saved by reading your tract!” he answered.
Praise the Lord! Since then as Brother Tomas has travelled, he has had many others who also said, “You are wrong!” Then they confessed that they, too, had come to Christ as result of reading his tract.
As I listened to that, my mind wandered to eternity – when we are in heaven. I imagined people walking up to someone and saying, “You thought what you were doing for the Lord was useless, but you were wrong! I’m here because of you!”
Are you a Sunday school teacher that has doubted your effectiveness in reaching those little ones for the Lord? You are wrong. Have you been a faithful witness to a lost person and you have begun to wonder if they’ll ever get saved? You are wrong. Are you a mom trying to teach your children to walk in godly ways, yet you see no fruit in their lives and wonder if there’s really any use? You are wrong. Have you poured out your heart in prayer for a specific need and you’re not seeing the answer come and have wondered if it’s really any use to keep on praying? You are wrong.
One Day in heaven, we’ll see the real fruits of our labors that brought honor and glory to the Lord Jesus. Today, however, we may need to have a little glimpse of heaven, and of how many times we are wrong when we doubt our effectiveness here on earth.
Be encouraged,
RefreshHer 