Remember his strength – Day 20
Insignificant things
Bible text(s)
Matthew 10
When the 2012 Paralympic Games in London came to a close, many thought that the event had done more to change attitudes towards disability than any educational programme or equal rights campaigns had did, up to that time. One writer wrote, “No longer were these unusual athletes defined by their disability, but by their extraordinary ability.”
Do you know who started the Paralympic Games? His name was Ludwig Guttman, a Jewish doctor, who fled to Britain from Nazi Germany in 1939. He later became director of the first specialist spinal injury unit in Britain. Read his inspiring story in Wikipedia.
Little known today, the last Paralympics were nevertheless a tribute to an unsung hero.
Jesus tells us it will be like that with us too. Sometimes, we feel we can do very little as a Christian to help others, because of our personal or physical circumstances. Indeed sometimes, we feel we can do nothing. However, Jesus tells us that even something as simple as a cup of cold water given to another believer to encourage them and help them on their way, will not go unnoticed or unrewarded. Nobody remembers Ludwig Guttman today, as the athletes are cheered from the stands. This may also be your point of view; there is nobody cheering me because I do so little.
Just wait until you get to heaven. There, you will be amazed at the numbers who will point to you as their encourager, for the small and seemingly insignificant things you did or said to them to cheer them on. Never despise the cup of cold water when you have nothing else to offer.
Remember the occasion in Mark 12:41-44? Jesus watched people putting money into the temple treasury. A poor woman came by and “put in two very small copper coins worth only a fraction of a cent”. Jesus called his disciples and said, “I tell you the truth, that poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in everything – all she had to live on.”
The smallest deed done for him will be noted.
