Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1378 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Essential or Non-Essential – Ask Gramps

Wisdom - the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1378 of our Trek and time for our Philosophy Friday series. Each Friday, we will ponder some of the fundamental truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy. As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can ‘Ask Gramps.’  Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, this is not possible. No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.

We may mix it up a bit on our Friday episodes, but will strive to keep them down to earth and enjoyable.  If you have any questions that you would like to ask Gramps, please email them to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com

So the question for this week is:

“Hey, Gramps, “I just don’t feel like I’ve done anything significant for God. I’ve tried to live a good life, but I just don’t see how it matters. I don’t feel like I have really contributed or made much of a difference. How can I be sure that what I am doing is having an impact on God’s kingdom here on earth?

Essential or Non-Essential

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard these words or words like them. What rips my heart out is that they are often spoken by people who are precious to me and others in God’s family. They do things that are sweet, sacrificial, serving, and tender to people when they need it most. Yet because their acts of service are done quietly or don’t seem to be a big deal to them, they think they don’t matter that much to God.

One of the many positive results from the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic is that most of us will never again view our workforce in the same manner. In a matter of fewer than two months, it is so evident that many of the essential contributors to our society were the unforgotten ones. Those individuals who have had little or no formal education and training. The truck drivers, the grocery store clerks, the gas station attendants, the janitors in hospitals, and those who were able to prepare meals at our favorite carryout restaurants. These are the essential workers of today, and let’s hope we continue to see them as such for many years. Yes, many others are considered professionals in the medical field that have sacrificed even their lives to save the lives of others. They will never be considered in the same light but as the heroes that they are.

Some of the most critical people in any story go unnoticed and under-appreciated. Yet these people are vital to the story unfolding in the way it does. Without them, the most important things would never happen. This is true whether the story is a movie or a novel or our own personal story. I believe that for many of you who have been on the front line during this pandemic should re-evaluate your impact on God’s kingdom, for it is excellent. This is quite often true of God’s story in the Bible.One of the most amazing stories in Scripture is the conversion of Saul. Saul is the fiercest, most passionate persecutor of the early followers of Jesus as described in the book of Acts. Of all the initial problems Jesus’ followers had to overcome, Saul was one of the dangerous and troubling ones. Yet in one event, Jesus turns Saul from his most significant problem into his most excellent spokesman! While it took fourteen years for all the details to get sorted entirely out (Galatians 2:1), the threat of Saul’s violent persecutions were immediately solved, and he was on his way to being the most influential follower of Jesus ever to live!

However, I’m guessing you can’t remember the name of one of the most significant people in the story of Saul’s transformation. His name usually escapes most folks’ memories. See if you can remember it!

Saul of Tarsus, known later as the apostle Paul (Acts 13:9), was struck blind after an amazing encounter with Jesus on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus (Acts 9:3-9). Jesus tells him to go to the city and he will be told what to do to be saved, given a new life mission, and receive his sight again.Meanwhile, a well-known follower of Jesus from Damascus is told to find Saul and share the message of Jesus with him. His name is Ananias, and he is reluctant to go because he knows Saul’s mission in Damascus is to arrest and persecute people like Ananias and their families (Acts 9:15-16). Ananias is assured that Saul is repentant, and has been spending the last three days fasting from food and water, blindly praying for God’s messenger to come to share what he needed to do (Acts 22:10). So that is what Ananias does. He risks his life and safety to share Jesus, baptize Saul, and help Saul regain his sight (Acts 22:14-16).

So who is the unknown and essential player in this story? The man who opened his house for the blinded Saul to wait, pray and fast! The man who was greeted at the door by Jewish Temple soldiers and a blind Jewish man looking for a place to stay in Damascus, Syria! The man who welcomed Ananias, a Christian who was targeted for persecution, into his home to speak with Saul and then lead him to Christ. Without this man’s hospitality, none of this would have happened in the beautiful way that it occurred.

And the man’s name? Do you remember? His name is Judas. Yeah, it is not a name we remember with fondness because of the other Judas. Only a few people to whom I’ve posed this question remembered his name. Luke describes it this way in Acts 9:10-11:

 Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord!” he replied. The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now.

Here is the point I want us to get. You may feel your life doesn’t make that big of a difference in the grand scheme of things. You may not think you are doing anything significant for God. You compare yourself to the great Bible heroes like Moses and Esther, Mary and Peter, Joshua, and Deborah. In today’s world, you may compare yourself to business leaders, sports stars, or actors.

One of the reasons we do this is because we forget how important other people are to the life of someone who is a leader or famous. Without all the truly essential workers in their lives, they become much less essential themselves. For example, where would the apostle Paul have been if Judas hadn’t welcomed him into his home and then received Ananias into his house to lead him to Jesus? There are many others in Paul’s life that had a dramatic influence on him and enabled him to do the great things he accomplished for the Lord. Without these essential workers, not only would Paul’s life have been greatly diminished, but Paul’s work for God would have come up far short of what God had intended for him.

So rather than discount your work for the Lord, remember that anything we do, when it’s offered to the Lord and done for his glory, will be used to grow God’s Kingdom and bless God’s people. That’s why the smallest things, even a cup of cold water given in the Lord’s name, is not forgotten and not wasted! Most important of all, even if no one remembers what you did and can’t even remember your name, there is One who remembers and will not forget!

That is a wrap for today’s question. Join us again next Friday for another question on our ‘Ask Gramps’ episode. Our next trek is Mediation Monday, where we will help you reflect on what is most important in life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along on Monday for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of the past 1377 daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most of all, your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you on Monday!