Start Where You Are
Sometimes we have grand dreams of what we will do for God if we could just get away to travel to another place or if we were just at another stage of life. We do not intend to procrastinate, but ...
Our personal situations will never be optimal for advancing God's kingdom. Legitimate obstacles will make our good intentions hard to fulfill. We often believe that some switch in our life circumstances will make it easier for us to serve God in the future! Maybe then we can travel ... someplace ... and do ... something.
This is a prescription for a life defined by good intentions but deficient in accomplishment. There must be a better way!
There is! At North Central, we have learned to say "start where you are" because we know that there is no use hoping life gets easier or that we can be put in the right place, but instead we need to start NOW and we need to start HERE.
Listen to Scripture as it guides us to do the good thing set before us right here, right now:
"The one giving even a cup of cold water will not lose his or her reward." (It doesn't have to be a huge donation in a foreign land.)
"Let all you do in word or deed be done in the name of the Lord Jesus." (The ordinary deeds and sayings that make up our days.)
"The one who is faithful in little can be trustred with much." (Faithfulness is measured in the little "now" things, not the big "later" things.)
When John came proclaiming the Kingdom of God in Luke 3, the people asked him, "What shall we do?" His answers in verses 10-14 concern the ordinary activities of daily life. No one needed to quit a job or move to a new place; they just needed to rethink their lives in the light of the coming kingdom.
Peter set out a "household code" in his first letter that pictures life in Rome as being full of possibilities for faithful witness by citizens, slaves
All of us have been placed into situations and relationships that need the light of God. By doing everyday things wherever we are, we can make a kingdom impact in the life of the world God loves so much.
If the only time you had to serve God was NOW, and the only place you could serve him was HERE, what would you do for him?
Steve Kenney wrote this article in 2016 as part of North Central on Mission's "Start Where You Are" series.