There is a lie we are believing straight from the enemy! It’s this... If it isn’t big, it doesn’t matter. Because we believe it, we make influence the goal rather than loving God and people with all of our life and gifts.
Maybe you are serving in your local church, being a faithful employee, or wiping crumbs off the highchair for the tenth time today. You’re creative and faithful to what is in front of you, and God is using it to change the world. Yet you wonder if your work really matters because it goes unseen. We must stop this silly game of platform chasing and measuring our success by size, numbers, or reach!
If you make influence your goal…
…your work will become bland and unoriginal,
…your heart will become consumed with what the world thinks,
…you’ll miss the Holy Spirit’s incredible work right in front of you,
…your soul will get so sick because it will never be satisfied,
and rather than give God away through your gifts, you will use Him to get somewhere.
1 Thessalonians 4:11 says, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands.”
A few years ago, I authored and led a Bible study. It was smaller than the thousands of people I lead when I travel and speak. I taught, prayed with people afterwards, and it was the greatest joy! What gifts has God given you that you’re sitting on because they don’t seem important enough?
What do we do to fight this lie?
Use Your Gifts Anywhere, and at Any Time.
Forget about size or impact or reach. Just do it for someone who needs what God has given you. As you see God meeting needs around you—you forget about all the people out there and see the people right in front of you who need what you weren’t giving because you didn’t think it was important.
Take Breaks from the Internet.
Never have everyone’s accomplishments been right in our space like they are today. Just pull away so you are sure your eyes are fixed on Christ and you are running your race and not looking side to side trying to run someone else’s.
Celebrate Character over Attention.
What do I mean by this? I will never forget my first Women of Faith conference. I had barely released one book and had only 100 Twitter followers. No one knew who I was, and they put me in a book signing line next to one of my heroes in women’s ministry! Her line wrapped the whole arena and I had three people in mine. I had a choice: I could compare and burst into tears or decide to celebrate that I get to go deeper with the few dear people right in front of me. They had tears in their eyes, they had photos of their adopted kids, and had been changed by something I said or did.
I decided that day to celebrate every time I don’t get credit, am overlooked, or made to feel small—because the truth is I am small and I’m not building my following—I am building Christ’s.
Scripture is clear that when we receive praise and reward here—that’s all we get. We have received our reward. I know it seems backwards, but we should celebrate when we obey, serve, and create without attention here. We need to be grateful for eternal rewards built from obedient invisible moments, not the jolt of feeling seen and important here.
And when we do get noticed or followed, we learn to keep that same attitude. Serve, love, and make much of God and the person standing right in front of us.
Build small somewhere, with your real life people who help you remember the real reasons you do what you do and the people who will challenge you if you start to think you are something! I have some of these people in my life that do a pretty good job of that!
Is having a big platform or following a bad thing? Well, obviously it is not. But if you put your identity in it, your soul will get sick fast.
May we desire to be helpful rather than important.
May we see individuals and not follow numbers.
May we seek to make God’s name great and not our own.
