Not original

Today I realized that even if I don't share my ideas with anyone, someone else will likely have the same idea. I typed in journey of faith trying to get to my blog when I ran into this ministry website that was doing everything I thought that God showed me to do.  They had my name, vision, and outlets.  I was happy to see that God was doing awesome things with these ladies, but I was also hit with some resentment.  Have I displeased God to the point that he picked someone else like he did Saul in Bible times?   Fortunately, holy spirit stopped me in my tracks and reminded me that there is nothing new under the sun.  “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9 Solomon wrote these words with it seems a heavy heart in realizing that the more things supposedly change, the more they stay the same.  I feel that sorrow too sometimes, but I am encouraged that  while life seems to be going in circles, every round goes higher. 

In order for the world to hear the message of God's love most effectively, more than one person needs to be speaking it.  Imagine dropping a rock into water. You would see its sphere of influence working outward from the point of impact in the water until the impact became so small that it was undetectable.   The area closest to the impact is most effected.  It would take more than one rock to send visible waves of influence throughout the world, but that is our job.  The great commission is to take the message of the love of God to the whole of existence!  That means that in order to do this, multiple people need to be saying the same thing in multiple places at the same time.  Should the rest of us stop telling people that Jesus love them because someone has already said it?  God forbid.  We are all able ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.   4And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 2 corinthians 3:4-6

We all must be in our place if we are going to be successful.  While people are not a new thing, each of us is tailor made to make an impact in this world.  Solomon was right about mans recycled mental, physical, and emotional state, except he did not account for the hand of God on us.  God makes all things new.  Solomon was looking around him at humanity with despair, and his grief was real and relate-able.  I have had days when I was looking at the state of affairs in the world and thought that all was vanity.  When you look squarely in the face of humanity, you can see every evil in every generation.  The problem is that if we are busy looking at the world around us, then we can get derailed from our assignment.  I was so taken aback by this other ministry that I started to doubt if God even wanted me anymore or if I could make a difference at all.  I felt like a "johnny come lately" and a lesser Christian because someone else was doing "my idea" better than me.  Thankfully, even as I have been writing this God has shown me that I need to do what he has given me to do for the sake of my sphere of influence. 

 There are certain people who will hear me better than they would someone else simply because it is me.  I can't prejudge my ability to be effective, I just have to put myself in the hands of God and let him drop me in the water.  My assignment is obedience, the increase is God's part.  There may be a million or more others like me in the world, but God made only one me and he did it on purpose.  I am not going to be paralyzed by the fact that God made more than one person or that more than one person has my idea.  I am going to be obedient and watch what God wants to do because this thing is for me and for those in my sphere of influence.  Just doing what God has called each of us to do, molds us into better versions of ourselves.  If no one ever reads one of my blogs or watches one of my videos or reads one of my books, or attends an event where I am speaking, I will still be better than when I started.  Onward and upward I climb.