The Pebble Effect

How do you see yourself in this world? It's a good question. How you handle life depends a lot on how you see your relationship with the world and with others. If we really see ourselves as "passing through" then we wouldn't get so emotionally invested in things that have no eternal impact. As much as I enjoy my Montreal Canadiens winning, I am not about to get emotionally tangled in something that does not matter for eternity. In other words, I am not about to feel low because my team lost.

You may think that sounds silly but many of us allow unimportant things to impact our day in negative ways. We get upset because we heard that someone we hardly know doesn't like us. We get upset because someone dented our car or because one of our kids broke a plate from our good China set. We get really bummed out because we flunked our calculus test and now our grade point average will drop, affecting which university we can approach. It sounds disastrous in the moment but when we are standing in eternity we won't even give it a thought.

So what is important? Relationships. Relationships and our role in them. Some would say that we have a responsibility to win people to Jesus. Do you know the Bible doesn't tell us that? Do you know that Jesus never told us to do that? Salvation belongs to God and conviction is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility is to share the Good News and to make disciples. You see, our role is that of teachers. We are to teach others what we have been taught.

This was one of the many things that Apostle Paul reminded Timothy to do:

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2:2)

You see, you have the responsibility to teach others what you have received and they in turn have the responsibility to teach what they have received. We aren't simply "passing through". As we pass through we have to leave an impact for Jesus. People should be able to look back on our path and see the countless relationships we have impacted with Jesus. They should see changed lives that go beyond the people we touched but include the people who were touched by those we touched and so on. Our life should have the pebble effect on the still pond.

Is this what you see in your life? Is this the lasting, eternal effect you are having in this world, or that Jesus is having through you? Are you reaching out into the lives of every person you are in relationship with, in an effort to teach them about Jesus? How many people will you meet in eternity who are there because you took the time to teach one person about Jesus?  Let's gain a proper perspective of our time on this earth.