Does It Seem Too Big?

Does It Seem Too Big?

by

Jerry N. Duncan, Ph.D., ABPP

Much of what we have discussed to date seems to have revolved around the theme of meeting the needs of others, and being motivated to do so. We have focused on value and opportunity.

There is nothing more important than being an extension of God in meeting the needs of hurting people. The opportunity is great, and we have been promised everything we need from God Himself to reach out and provide comfort, hope, peace, and a genuine sense of purpose to those He places in our path.

Today, I want to speak to those of you that do understand the concepts of value and opportunity as God defines it, but are hamstrung with immobilizing fear. For some of us, the need feels so enormous and overwhelming that we don’t try at all.

If you access the website Answers.com and ask, you will discover that—“If you take the world percentage of non-Christians roughly 65 % then apply that same percentage to the daily world death rate (not including disasters) which is 107 per minute that equates to 68 people dying every minute without "knowing Christ". This does not take into account those who have changed religion or the fact that a greater number of people die in third world countries which are more commonly non-Christian. The same source says that about 432,000 people die of hunger each day.

If we are going to stay focussed and active, we have to have a way to think about the enormity of the need without getting overwhelmed and giving up. It is also easy to minimize the value of our efforts to share with or help the small number of people we may be exposed to in our relatively short lifetime. How did Jesus deal with these issues?

There would be some that would say, “Not very well!” “Why in the world didn’t He come when mass media was available?” “Why didn’t He come when travelling the whole world with our current means of transportation would allow Him to see more people, in more places, in the same 3-31/2 years of earthly ministry He was allotted?”

Apparently He never intended to do it all. It appears that from the beginning God’s plan has always been that we were created to be caretakers of this world. Everything and everyone in it has been placed in our care.

The answer to the question-- “Why does a loving God let so many people in the world starve to death?”—is best answered with—“It’s not Him. It’s us.” We have the means to feed the world. We aren’t doing it.

Multiplication formulas have been around for a long time that show how the good news about God’s offer of a personal and intimate relationship could be presented to everyone if we each individually shared the “news” and then taught that person how to share it with others. It doesn’t require any of us to be Billy Grahams sharing the news in large stadiums.

By the way, huge crusades don’t reach everyone. In fact, most committed followers of Jesus learned about Him from a caring friend or family member.

You are only responsible to be obedient to what God tells you to do as you live your daily life with your eyes wide open and ready to do what He leads you to do--that day, and at that moment in time. Feed, clothe, or help one person at a time.

It may not look “big” to others, but it will be huge in God’s eyes. God’s “big” for you will never be more than you can handle.

Ready to let the fear go?