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Each of us is in a corner of the world the other can’t reach.

I can’t reach the people in a Georgia suburb like the people in the Georgia suburbs can.

I can’t reach the neighbor in southeast London like the people in southeast London can.

You can’t reach the people in northern Michigan like I can.

Social media has deceived us into believing we can change the whole world by shouting louder, by posting more, by adding to the cacophony of voices and opinions already overwhelming us. While I do believe speaking up matters (when it is guided by the Holy Spirit, and not by anxiety, proving others wrong, or an ever-restless cancel culture) most of our witness and work for the gospel doesn’t happen online. It happens in real life.

I am far more changed across a table from a living, Christ-loving human than I am through a pixelated screen, and so are you. And so is your neighbor.

But that change isn’t exactly the end goal. The goal, of course, is for people to experience Christ. Why? Because God made them, and His making left an immovable mark upon their soul. People seek meaning and purpose and spirituality because that mark remains, seeking to draw them back to their Maker. There is an innate need for purpose, meaning, and knowing why life is the way it is. As Christians, we have a framework to answer these questions, and our experience of a loving and holy God should motivate us to share him in our world.

Outward change wrought in people around us, then, is not the goal. But it is a byproduct of exposure to Jesus. When you meet Jesus, when you understand His love and sacrifice and what it cost for Him to give us grace, you desire to grow. You desire to have that peace. You desire to find that purpose in the midst of chaos and hurt and pain. Those desires are God-given, and they are drawing us to His heart.

So what’s the job, as a Christian? Your job – based on Matthew 28:20, in Jesus’ own words – is to make disciples of the nations. That starts with the nation you’re in. And let’s narrow that down further: it starts with the state you’re in, the province you’re in, the city you’re in, and the street you’re on. Making disciples is as simple as living life alongside people as they experience profound joy and the deepest pain. And when that joy needs sharing or that loss threatens to crush them, Christ, in you, is there. Truth in grace is there.

I’m not saying we rush into someone’s pain with a Bible and a Romans-Road gospel tract. But the gospel is truly the good news. Jesus thought so. (If we don’t think Jesus was right on this – that he really isn’t enough, or he never intended to be, well, we have bigger problems to deal with theologically.) The problems may not be erased, the pain may not be lifted, but we can point to the God who grieves with humans, who carried their pain once, but not only once.

John Wesley said the mission of the Christian is to “do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.” That sounds like a lot of work. But Wesley isn’t saying, ‘Fill up your calendar to the max and work until you can’t see straight.’ Wesley is saying: “Listen to the Spirit’s leading. Who can you love? Who can you serve? What obedience can you choose? How can you follow Christ today?”

Because really, we only have today. And we are given grace – favor and strength – just for the good we’re called to in this span of time, in this nation we’re in, in this city, on this street. You can’t reach everyone. But you can reach the ones God has given you.

So will you do it?

Masonheimer, Phylicia. "Do All the Good You Can" 

https://phyliciamasonheimer.com/do-all-the-good-you-can-2/

Suppose you are fifty-two years old. Sixteen years earlier you adopted a daughter. She was nine. Both her parents were dead. You couldn’t know all the circumstances of her birth and life. But you believed with all your heart you were doing the right thing. God’s glorious, Father-like grace, you knew, would shine in this. And so you took her into your home.

Now at age twenty-five, your daughter is single, has a child, has aborted four children, and is pregnant again. And suppose that now in her sin and despair, she has one last abortion by committing suicide. And there you are, in the rubble of your dreams for her, grandparents now facing the choice of becoming parents of your grandchild. And again, you believe, deep in your bones, that is the right thing to do. And you do it, embracing the child in whom the effects of trauma radically change your life again. Forever.

That’s a true situation, and a handful of you know who I’m talking about. One of the reasons that I start with that story is to make clear at the outset that the ripple effect of abortion goes far beyond a woman with an unintended pregnancy, or a husband, or a boyfriend, or a moment in life. The ripple effect goes for years and years, and cuts through extended families and friends in ways nobody can predict.

Another reason I start with this story is to make plain that what I’m about to say is designed not only to prevent hundreds of abortions, but also to bring hope and stability — indeed, serious, tear-stained joy — to those of you who have done the right thing for Jesus’s sake, and paid dearly.

To read the rest of this sermon click here.

desiringGod, Doing the Right Thing Never Ruins Your Life. January 24, 2021. John Piper. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/doing-the-right-thing-never-ruins-your-life

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

  Last week at this time I was sitting with my 7 week old watching the snow starting to fall on the mountains from a hospital rocking chair.  Our family had been hit by a double whammy of sickness. We had just come home from a trip and had sick kids, no groceries, nights of no sleep, and our newborn had to be hospitialized for respiratory distress. 

  However, in all of this so many of you stepped in to pick up food, bring meals, check in on my kids, and PRAYED. What a sense of comfort during that time that I didn't have to worry about what my family was heating up for dinner or if my kids needed something you would be there in a second. It let me focus on the task of bringing my baby home from the hospital. 

  You texted prayers and prayed with me on the phone. Without a doubt, we felt your prayers and in 24 hours we went from the doctors walking me through what to expect if they had to quickly intubate her to low flow oxygen and talk of going home on oxygen. Six hours later from that we went home with no oxygen at all! It was a beautiful turn around and we are so grateful.

  Thank you all for the time spent in prayer. Thank you for dropping off food and meals. Thank you for the support you gave us and checking in. You made such a difference.

Tim and Breanna Penn