‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:23 NIV)
Edward Kimble was a shoe salesman. Even though he was a bit shy, he shared Christ with a fellow employee named D.L. Moody. That day in 1858, D.L. Moody gave his life to Jesus. Moody went on to become the greatest evangelist of his generation.
In one of Moody’s meetings, Fredrick D Meyer was stirred to become an evangelist. Late in Meyer’s ministry, a college student named J. Wilbur Chapman became a Christian and later shared the gospel with a baseball player named Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday was so transformed by Jesus that he too became an evangelist. His ministry reached a man named Mordecai Ham. At a revival meeting Mordecai Ham was conducting in Charlotte, North Carolina, a young man named Billy Graham walked forward and gave his life to Christ.
Billy Graham has probably reached more people for Christ in one lifetime than anyone else in history. It’s evident that God called and gifted him for a great work. It’s also evident that he has been faithful to God and his calling.
Few of us may have the gifting and calling of a Billy Graham. But, all of us can be like Edward Kimble. We can be faithful to the calling and gifting God has entrusted to us no matter how small it may appear. It’s been said, “You can count the apples on a tree, but who can count the apples in a seed?”
© Paul R Downing, Daybreak Devotions
Whether a shoe clerk, stay at home mom, or major corporation CEO, be faithful in service to Christ. You never know what yield the seeds you plant today will produce tomorrow – or in generations from tomorrow.