A Joyful Surprise While Ministering
Recently at the abortion center, we had a woman stop by with a 6-month-old baby in the back seat of her car. She told us that when she was pregnant with that child, she had come to the abortion center for an abortion. However, when she saw our signs urging a choice for life, and she spoke to one of our sidewalk outreach volunteers, she chose life for her baby. She wanted to encourage us to keep going because moms like her were choosing life, and her baby was alive today because of it. This is at a facility where we rarely are told if a woman chooses life. We usually see no evidence that what we are doing is bearing fruit.
Questioning the Worth of Why We are There
If you have been in this ministry long, the question of whether to keep going will likely enter your mind. At times, we feel we are very small and pushing against a boulder that 100 men could not move. To add to the struggles of ministry, most of us have work and family responsibilities along with all the other battles of life. For most everyone serving on the sidewalk, it means that not only us, but oftentimes our family will need to make sacrifices. Many faithful Christians serving on the sidewalk have made sacrifices to be a voice for the voiceless. Sometimes when the sacrifice is overwhelming and we do not see the fruit of our effort, we might wonder, “Is it worth it”?
Biblical Answer to “Is it Worth it?”
God answers that question. A beautiful example of His response is in Psalm 37:1-7,9-11: “Fret not yourself because of evildoers: be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land andbefriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday… For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land.”
Whether We See it Or Not, the Fruit is There
The reality is that this ministry IS worth it. The testimony of the mom with the baby reinforced this, as does scripture. Psalm 37 says God WILL act when we are faithful. We might not immediately see the fruit…possibly not for years. “Not immediately” can even mean decades. Or like the prophet Jeremiah, we may not see the fruit at all in our lifetime. But ultimately, the righteous WILL inherit the land. God WILL act. Evil WILL be removed. It is a privilege to see glimpses of how God is working, but if that is our focus, rather than our faithfulness, we can become discouraged quickly.
Befriend Faithfulness, Not Fruit
“Befriend faithfulness.” This is an amazing concept! To befriend someone is not to see them in passing. The command is not to “introduce yourself to faithfulness.” Friends are made over time with ongoing commitment and intentionality. This is how we are to view our decision for faithfulness whether we see fruit or not.
The chorus of Take Courage by Lindy Conant says: “There is a yes in our hearts that echoes through eternity, simple obedience that changes history.” Christ is looking for hearts that say to Him, “Yes.” Think about it—humanity was ruined by disobedience. The message from God is clear: obedience, no matter the cost, will bring forth a harvest.
The Example of Giants of Faithfulness
Jonathan Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, was a man that made a major impact in his generation. There is even a book titled, “England Before and After Wesley.” He was a lynchpin in a revival that ended the slave trade. The argument can be made that Wesley’s preaching saved England from the bloody revolution that France saw. Hundreds would come and hear him preach.
A lesser-known man in history was John Wesley’s father, Samuel Wesley. A Pastor in the Church of England, he faithfully served a congregation that hated him. They set his house on fire with his family still inside. They killed his cow. He spent time in jail simply because he didn’t have the money to pay his debts. Through it all, he remained faithful and continued to pastor in that town, because it was where God had called him. He saw little fruit. When Jonathan Wesley preached his first open-air sermon, he chose to preach it while standing on his father’s grave. Samuel Wesley left his children an inheritance of faithfulness to Christ, and the fruit was massive, though he did not see it in his lifetime.
The True Fruit of Our Ministry is Our Faithfulness
Our faithfulness is in itself a miracle and a reward. We can trust there is fruit we may or may not see. Because of our “yes” to serve Christ at the abortion centers, mothers’ and fathers’ hearts towards their children change on the brink of killing them. Generations that would have been snuffed out will exist because the Gospel of Jesus Christ interrupted and changed history. And one day, these abortion centers will close. As the Psalm says, “the righteous will inherit the land.”
Stay faithful and keep going to the sidewalk. You are changing history.
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