Falling short

Yesterday Pastor Dave and I spent the day visiting several of our shut-in's. Since I work a full-time job, I don't have many opportunities to do a lot of visiting, but I have been on vacation this week which allowed me the opportunity to do so. It was a wonderful day that brought much satisfaction to both myself and hopefully the ones that we visited. However; not only did I receive a great satisfaction, I also received a serious smack of reality, read on...

Our church is made up of many different members. The Lord has blessed us with a variety of talents and ministries. I try to do everything possible using the abilities that God has given me, with my main focuses being evangelism and worship. One gift that I wish I had more of is hospitality. While I have no problem preaching or leading worship in front of a large congregation of people, it's the one-on-one that I have the most trouble with. I am a great listener but I am naturally shy and not a good small-talker or conversation starter. Sometimes this hinders me from doing some of the things that I would like to do.

There is a lady in our church who I wish I could be more like. She doesn't talk a whole lot or draw any attention to herself but she is always extremely nice and very faithful. You would never know that this lady is probably the most devoted member when it comes to Christian service and outreach. She would never mention the things that she does for the Lord and she would never brag about the things that she does. I won't mention her name because I know she doesn't want the praise of men. She doesn't know this, but yesterday while I was doing visitation, her name was mentioned over and over. I heard from our shut-in's how much that she does for them. She visits numerous people throughout the week. She takes folks to the doctor, grocery shopping, helps them with various chores, and also has Bible study with them. I heard things such as; "she is the finest woman I have ever known," and "there is nobody any finer than she is," and "I don't know what I would do without her." As I heard all of the wonderful things about this lady, I couldn't help but feel ashamed of myself for my short-comings. I also felt a great respect and appreciativeness for this true soldier of the Lord.

I mentioned to my pastor that it is folks like this lady that will be receiving great rewards in Heaven. She is definitely following the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ when he says in the book of Matthew, chapter 6: 19 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

I'm going to make it my purpose to try harder to reach out to others. I know I can't do everything but I can do more than I am doing. Lord help me to have more compassion for others and put my selfish wants and desires aside.