It’s time to assess where I am and what I’ve been able to accomplish this year, and besides material and tangible things, I wonder if what I have done this year, is acceptable in God’s sight. In all of the ministries that I am privileged to be a part of, I sometimes wonder if I am doing enough? I guess to look at it I should look at results, not the individual activities. You can be as busy for the Lord as you want to planning programs, and all of the other events that come into play with ministry, but no matter how busy you are, if you consider just the event, and not the fruit that comes from having the event, you are using the wrong measure to gauge your effectiveness.

Today, I realized that if what I am doing is not being effective, it is time to stop doing it and to be seeking other open doors. In the twenty-three years that I have been writing the Lattereign, I have had the opportunity to look long and hard at what I am trying to do. I have always loved to write, since I was old enough to hold a pencil. Even how much my personal ambitions influence my choices really doesn’t matter.

I could write enough stacks of paper to fill entire rooms, but if I stopped there and never shared it, or got it published, or kept correcting mistakes I had made, that needed to be revised, or never took a risk to be criticized for the words I chose; instead, closing the door to the room and locking it; my whole purpose for writing would die with me, never reaching one person with encouragement, or hope to keep living for God.

What a shame it would be to stand before God with empty hands. My motivation is not wrapped up in accolades, or high fives, or pats on the back for what I have written; my motivation comes when someone reads the articles, and then tells me later that they were blessed by what I shared. If I measured my effectiveness by dollar signs, I might as well stop writing, now, because anyone with business sense knows that you need capital to operate a business.

That is the beauty of being about God’s business; he is the provider. Our part is to show up and be available for whatever he has planned for us. Sometimes, when I write, I can’t get my righteous indignation under control, and it’s usually because I focus on what others may have done that wasn’t handled exactly the way that I had been taught to handle it. Do I tell the person? absolutely not. I can’t judge others and still be objective! So, I sit down to write, and what begins to form on the page? There is nothing but criticism and judgment, and before I know it, God is telling me to hit the delete key until I am once again, facing a blank page.

Humility? Yes, Reprimanded? Yes, so instead of complaining to God, I decide it is better to allow those other offenders of my way of thinking, to work out their own salvation, so God will help me to write the message that he wants to send. I find when I get out of his way, He can write some amazing stuff. Through the years, I have made many mistakes, and learned to use the equipment that the Lord provided, before the modern technology that we have to distract us so thoroughly, today, was even an idea.

No matter how advanced the technology becomes, as we move forward, one thing is certain. If I don’t commit myself to doing what I love, there are people who will never know about how much Jesus Christ loves us. He loved us enough to go to Calvary. I can’t quit now, I must continue to do the will of the one who gave his life, so we could have eternal life.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Your Lattereign is flawed, and that is okay, because the Lord can take broken vessels and form them into masterpieces. It is so important to share our God given talents and the gospel of Jesus Christ. The time is short, and in this week’s Lattereign the Lord is asking us: Who will tell them? who will go?