They say the person who is blessed the most in serving or ministering to others is the giver, not the recipient. How often I've seen and experienced that; yet how often do I lazily want to be the receiver! But sometimes God turns the tables: when you try to lead others toward Christ, they may unwittingly steal the reins right out of your hand and start leading you toward Him.
A month or so ago I gave a teenager a ride home. I just had read something meaningful earlier that day, and thought I had a 10-minute window to offer a ray of light to this person half my age. "Have you heard of...?" I began. "Oh yes!" came the reply. "I went there for a week and served these people and learned about their needs and had opportunities to pray with them..." And so on for about three minutes straight. Suddenly, my third-person information (full of temptations to devolve into a condescending sermon to a youth who "clearly" needed my guidance) jumped to the back burner as I listened to this first-person account. My audience was the preacher and I the learner. My audience the motivator, and I the encouraged.
My ideas and thoughts had not been devalued. My motivation had not been wrong. I had not been insulted. God might see fit to use me in this or another teen's life at any moment. What was key was that I had made an effort, and God saw to the fruit. Little did I know that I was on the agenda that day, not my protege.
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