This post features an excerpt from Rachel Jankovic’s book: You Who? Why You Matter and How to Deal With It.
Doing incredibly glorious things does not always feel glorious. In fact, I think it seldom does.
The widow and her 2 mites probably did not feel glorious as she offered her little all. But Christ glorified her faithfulness with His acceptance of her offering.
When the woman comes and anoints Jesus with an alabaster jar full of oil, she is shamed by the disciples. Jesus tells them that not only was this embarrassing moment of hers actually lovely, but that wherever the gospel goes, so will the story of what she has done. It will be told in memory of her. And it is.
We can still offer our everything to Christ, however small it seems, and have Him glorify it forever. It is what He does.
Years ago, when my parents purchased some land, dad bought a field and brush mower. It was huge and self-powered. It could mow over saplings 3 inches thick. It was a beast. And when you mowed with it, you felt yourself jogging behind a thing that was well out of control as you did your noble best to not mow down the orchard.
I have thought of this many times as an example of what faithfulness feels like. It feels like out of control. It feels like thanking God breathlessly for things that you think were a bad idea. It feels like struggling to keep up and being sure that you aren’t doing a great job. It feels like not really seeing the vision for what you’re doing.
And yet, whenever you look over your shoulder, where you expect to see the devastation of your poorly executed job, what you see instead is a beautiful garden growing. Faithfulness does not feel like what it is accomplishing.
We have gotten so consumed with feelings needing to be pleasant that we have discarded the generally unpleasant feelings of faithfulness: ‘It doesn’t feel good, so it cannot be good.’ But discarding the feelings of faithfulness discards the fruits of it.
When we embrace the fact that obedience now is always the calling of a Christian, we find that we have more than enough to do. We are not to be the lost travelers hanging out at all the bus stations of life, looking for our potential ticket to something that matters. Read the Word. Obey the Word. Obey it now. Obey it again.
This is a call to grab the handle of the great gardening machine called obedience and let the glory of God power you through a great number of 3-inch tree trunks. Hang on. Obey Him. Watch the chips fly, feel them sting on your shins, and occasionally, look behind you to see the beauty that God is accomplishing in your obedience – because it will be genuinely glorious. Laugh at your own small part in His glorious design. Rejoice in Your Savior, who does much with your little, and simply hang on to Him with a willing spirit.
— Rachel Jankovic