The power of One

At a Kairos Prison Ministry council meeting last night, I came to the conclusion (as I have pondered for a while) that serving, volunteering, discipleship is becoming more difficult to see in action because more and more people are not serving, volunteering, disciplining. Just yesterday I wrote about the lack of persons studying the scriptures. Today I'm writing about those persons who don't volunteer to help the prisoners.

This could turn into a depressing trend, but I'm not going to let it, because one person was kind enough to point out that whatever happens to our next event (scheduled for March with but five volunteers currently scheduled including no (NO) clergy, God will make use of it and things will be fine.

I'm reminded of Paul's letter to the church in Corinth: "¹ And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. ² In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. ³ For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, ⁴ they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. ⁵ And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us."

On Christmas Eve, for reasons I can't be sure of, I had one of the churches take up an offering. I had never done that before. Then I got a call about a family whose home had burned to the ground, a military family with children. I thought about what we could do, asked the church leaders if we could do it and we gave close to $800 to that family.

The point of all this is that we must do what we can. We can't look at numbers and decide upon success or failure because the only number that matters is the number 1. One God in three persons. One. It's not a lonely number when talking about Jehovah. It's a number of power and strength.

I'm beginning a sermon series about what God can't do this Sunday, but the fact is that within God's will, he can do everything except violate his own standards, his own nature, his own plans. He wants the best for all of us and I believe he will make that happen, according to Paul's letter to the church in Rome.

We simply must wait, give the best effort we can and watch for the amazing (in whatever form they come) results.

Maybe a small Kairos event is what He wants. Maybe one person working hard is what He wants. Maybe, just maybe, He wants someone to become desperate enough to come to his Son by not having an event in March but instead waiting until the Fall. Maybe. Just maybe.

The power of One is enough to accomplish that.