I Have Changed

Simple Truths, Big Impact

I have changed. I am not the man I was 14 years ago when I went to work with International Missionaries for Christ. Regardless what people may say, old men can learn new things that change them. I am a testimony to that. Here are five simple truths that have changed my thinking, my outlook on life and my behavior.

I have learned that the kingdom of God is bigger, much bigger, than me and my church. I am important. My church is important. The community I live in is important and God cares for it very, very much, but I am only one and the community I live in is only one small area in a great big world that God cares for and Jesus died for. If things are going poorly for me or my church in my community, it doesn’t mean the Kingdom of God is failing. His Kingdom is NOT centered on or around me. His Kingdom is growing. His workers are scattered throughout communities everywhere in this great big world and they are sharing His message and extending His Kingdom. I am just one among many in His great Kingdom, but I am one and I am so grateful and humbled to be a small part of what He is doing. 

I have learned that followers of Jesus Christ in poor, underdeveloped nations are not inferior in any way to me. They have a walk with Christ that is rich and their experiences with the Lord are oftentimes deeper than mine. I am humbled to have prayed, walked and shared the Gospel with men and women of other colors, languages, and ethnicities who live in small mud homes with no electricity or running water. They have few clothes, little money and no health care, but they love the Lord and follow Him completely with great love and faith. I know I am not worthy to be a part of the Lord’s work among them but I am a blessed to be a part.

I have learned that the Lord can use me in the work of His Kingdom far beyond what I ever thought possible. To think that I am a part of a movement of God reaching into Uganda, Kenya, DR Congo and Southern Sudan involving hundreds of thousands of people coming to Christ and sharing His message with others, is crazy. But it is happening. I’m not that smart. I’m not that talented. I’m not that gifted with money. And, I am NOT so spiritual that Lord had to include me; but the Lord has included me and used me to influence more people than I could have ever imagined. God’s grace is truly amazing and I am what I am and do what I do by His grace.

I have learned that true worship is not solely how loud I sing in a room with other believers on Sunday mornings but how I give myself into the Lord’s hands to help the people He loves and died for who are trapped physically and spiritually in poverty, disease, sickness and sin. Loving the people Jesus loves and giving myself to help them IS actively loving the Lord and worshipping Him. This has become my greatest act of worship. This is the song of worship I sing and I am humbled that the Lord has allowed me to worship Him by walking with the “least of these”, praying with them and helping them.

I have learned that I am rich, and I have learned how to be grateful for all God blessings. I’m not rich like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, but I am wealthy. I have never lived in a mud hut six months behind on rent waiting to be thrown out on the streets. I have never gone to bed without a meal that I could have eaten sometime during the day. I have never gone to bed night after night to the stinging bites of bed bugs with no way of eliminating the problem. I have never shared six toilets with more than 100,000 people. I have never been placed in the hot equatorial sun to lay in hopes that it will heal my sickness because I don’t have the money to go to the doctor or buy medicine. I have never seen my children suffering from lack of food and tattered clothing with no way to help. Why? Because I am rich and I live in a nation of plenty. I now know just how rich I am and I am grateful.

These are lessons learned. Lord, thank you for getting me out of comfort zone in my living room to travel to different places (especially Africa) to learn these simple truths that I should have known. Thank you.

Jimmy