Loving God first so we can serve others better

Back in December I reminded us how Proverbs teaches that though we make our plans, God orders our steps. Many times, I need to be reminded that God is not my accomplice. He’s the one who determines what happens. Often in our lives we think, “Ok God, I’ve got this great ministry opportunity. Here’s how it’s going to play out, so I need you to ride along and protect all these great plans.” When we first began working with refugees, I had these lofty ideas that thousands of refugees were going to come to Christ, and it would change the whole community. Instead, God used us to help build up a ministry, train others for the work, make connections between the church and community, and plant gospel seeds. It’s not that my plans were wrong, or I didn’t try hard enough. It’s that He had different plans for my role in that community. What God wants first and foremost is for us to love him with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). Sharing the gospel with others then naturally flows out of us as followers of Christ. Although it wasn’t thousands, we did see people believe in Christ and multiple Bible studies started. What’s beautiful is Jesus says in Luke 15:7, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” All of heaven rejoices over just one person. That’s encouraging! We would love to see thousands come to Christ as we prepare and plan for Marseille, but we choose to love God first. We all want to see incredible fruit in our Christian walk but need to be encouraged by the rejoicing over just one. Our family wants to be used by God for his ministry in France no matter the outcome. Our prayer is that you too will seek God first so you can be used mightily by Him.