I heard a sermon
some years ago that has never been forgotten. In it a professor talked about
the story of the Good Samaritan. His
points reflected upon the busy schedule of the priest and Levite and their
total lack of interest in helping the person who had been robbed. He spoke of how they were most likely headed
to the temple or some function to fulfill their religious duties and then asked
the question, “Are you going to minister or ministering as you go?” The point
he so poignantly made was that we should capitalize upon those moments when we
are inconvenienced in ministry. If not we will pass many opportunities to reach
out and touch someone’s life. The following story stresses this truth further. In
an earlier century, there lay a large boulder in the middle of the roadway.
Traveler after traveler walked past the boulder, veering off the side of the
road to get around it. All the while, they were shaking their head and
muttering, "Can you believe that? Someone should get that big thing out of
the way. What an inconvenience!" Finally, a man came along and, seeing the
boulder, took a branch from a tree and pried the boulder enough to get it
rolling and rolled it off to the side of the road. Lying underneath the rock,
he found a small bag with a note. The man picked up the note and read it. It
read as follows: "Thank you for being a true servant of the kingdom. Many
have passed this way and complained because of the state of the problem and
spoken of what ought to be done. But you have taken the responsibility upon
yourself to serve the kingdom instead. You are the type of citizen we need more
of in this kingdom. Please accept this bag of gold that traveler after traveler
have walked by simply because they didn’t care enough about the kingdom to
serve." I wonder how many "bags of gold" we have missed because
we were too busy trying to get to our final destination. There are those
occasions when God places destiny in our paths just to see if we will take the
time to receive it. It is my prayer that
we will not be so focused on the end of the road that we bypass ministry in the
middle of the road. By all means go minister but be sure you minister as you go.
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