Unknown Helpers

One of the treasures I have from the past is a small pocket New Testament my father carried with him as he went to the Pacific to fly bombing missions during WWII.  For much of my life it was mostly a keepsake that had value because he held it in his hands and read from its pages.  In any purge of my book collection it would be one of the last ones to go.  However, more recently I have found myself thinking about the way it was placed in his hands.  Someone donated money for its printing.  Someone else must have boxed them up and still another placed it his hands. 

 

It reminds me that so many of the things which have nurtured our spiritual lives are things done by unknown people.  In most cases those people could never know the impact of the gift of ministry they offered.  Surely, the person who placed this small Bible in my Father's hand could not have imagined his son reading from that same Bible over seventy years later.  Such is the way the Kingdom of God is present in our midst.  Like a mustard seed.  Small things done for Christ have a way of accomplishing His purposes in ways no one would ever imagine.

 

It is true for us.  While it is true that each one of us has been the recipient of the faithfulness of others who have gone before us, it is also true that God continues to work in the same way through us.  Think about the possibilities for a moment.  Actually, we cannot really stretch our mind to entertain the possibilities which can become realities through the ongoing work of the Spirit.  But, what we can know is the fact that the little things we do in the present moment for Christ have a rippling effect which will touch lives far beyond the present moment in which we live.  One day someone like you and me may be thinking back over the span of their years of faithfulness and we will be the unknown helpers from their past.