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Have
you ever heard someone make the statement, “I’m only one person, there just
isn’t much I can do?” Have you ever thought this yourself? Have you ever heard
a sister in Christ get discouraged and say, “It really doesn’t matter what I do,
no one notices or cares anyway”? It is easy for us to feel this way from time
to time. After all discouragement is one of Satan’s most powerful tools but…
What
if Esther had this attitude? Esther risked her life to save her people. Can you
imagine how different things might have turned out if she had told Mordecai
that there was nothing she could do to help save her people?
The
midwives in Exodus 1:15 decided to obey God rather than man when Pharaoh told
them to kill the Hebrew baby boys. What if, instead, they had chosen to carry
out this order? Perhaps Moses would not have been around to lead the Israelites
out of bondage. Moses may never have even known his true heritage if his
sister, Miriam had not been watching over him and offered to find Pharaoh’s
daughter a nurse to take care of the child.
What
if Joshua and Caleb had agreed with the other ten spies by saying, they could
not take the Promised Land? Samuel might never have been born, much less have
been a prophet of the Lord, were it not for Hannah’s prayer. The lineage of
Jesus would not be what it is had Ruth chosen not to follow Naomi, because she
would not have met Boaz. Timothy might not have the strong faith he did were it
not for his grandmother, Lois and mother, Eunice.
The
point I am trying to stress here is that you never know how your actions will
affect others. The only thing you know for sure is that you WILL have an impact
on the lives of others positively or negatively. It’s known as the ripple
effect. When you toss a stone into a pond, ripples form around the place the
stone entered the water. The ripples start out small but they grow as they move
outward. This illustration is described well in an article written by Bro.
Nichols…
During the War Between the
States, a young woman learned the truth and obeyed the gospel. Her sweetheart, J.H. Halbrook, was a confederate soldier. He was captured by the
union army and kept a prisoner in Michigan until the war was over. After the
war, he returned to Centerville and married his sweetheart. His wife studied
the Bible with him, and he soon became a Christian. He thought the truth was so
good and so simple that he began to teach and baptize many of his friends and
neighbors. He began to preach, but he recognized his need for more training, so
he went to the original Mars Hill Bible School, taught by T.B. Larimore. Upon completing his studies there, instead of
going back to Tennessee, they moved farther south, coming into Walker, Marion,
Fayette, and Lamar counties in Alabama. One of J.H. Halbrook’s many converts
was Charley Alexander Wheeler. Along with his wife, C.A. Wheeler obeyed the
gospel and soon began preaching to others. He started more than 100
congregations and baptized more than 6,000 people. One
of those 6,000 was my father, the late Gus Nichols. And twelve thousand were
baptized under his preaching.
Among those baptized by Gus Nichols, no one
knows, nor can know, how many began to preach "the glorious gospel of
Christ" (2Cor. 4:3,4); but I personally know several. I, Flavil Nichols,
am ONE whom he baptized and whom he encouraged to preach the truth. And under
my preaching, about 3,000 have been baptized. A few among them preach the
gospel also! Only eternity can reveal the total results of the conversion of
that one young lady nearly 150 years ago. The results are not yet all in! But
this shows that TWENTY-ONE THOUSAND people have become Christians through this
single thread in the fabric of her influence.
-Flavil Nichols Huntsville, AL
-From The Winfield Newsletter, Vol. 21, No. 14
As
this story proves, while you may only be one person, your actions and influence
can have far reaching effects. As women we are many things. We are wives,
mothers, daughters, sisters, teachers, neighbors, and friends. We are bosses,
employees, coworkers, and citizens. All of us fall into a least one of these
categories and there are many more that I did not name. The many roles we fill
allow us to interact with people from many different walks of life. Our
influence and power could easily be as far reaching as the young woman from the
story who obeyed the gospel and simply shared it with her husband.
The
virtuous woman we read about in Proverbs 31 was aware of the power she
possessed. She was very busy caring for her family, the poor and those in need.
Dorcas (Acts 9:36ff)
likewise was concerned about the well-being
of others. What wonderful legacies these ladies left behind and what great
examples for us to follow!
As
I said in the beginning, it is easy for us to get discouraged. Being a
Christian is not easy. God never promised that it would be and Satan certainly
doesn’t try to make it easy for us, however, we must not let him get the best
of us.
Bob
Marley, a Jamaican singer-songwriter, believed racism and hate could be cured
by injecting music and love into people’s lives. While I do not support or
agree with his beliefs, he once made a statement that impressed me. When he was
scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him.
Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When asked why he wasn’t
resting after his injury, he said, “The people, who were trying to make this
world worse are not taking a day off. How can I?” That quote can be applied to
our lives as Christians. Satan doesn’t take days off and he is working
especially hard on us. He already has the world where he wants it. He wants us
to join it instead of make a difference in it. Satan knows the power of one.
While
teaching Bible class, my great uncle has stated numerous times, “There is one
thing that every Christian can do, that is encourage one another.” I believe he
stresses this point because he realizes how easy it is for us to become
discouraged and encouragement is our greatest defense against it. Hebrews 3:13 tells
us to encourage each other every day.
"Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see you good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven" Matt. 5:16 Jesus gave us these instructions because he
wants us to realize the power we have as individuals as well as collectively.
The world is dark and it our job to let the light shine through. We must light
up the darkness.
“I can do all things through Christ who
strengtheneth me.”
Philippians 4:13
