Sitting in a small room in West Africa, the consensus of the people was, “We cannot do the work because we do not have enough.” The “work” to which they were referring was the advancement of the good news of Jesus in their cities and country. “Pastor, if we had computers and each of us had a small number of funds (about $120 a month), we could really make progress.”
I wish I could tell you this was the first and only time I have heard this sentiment expressed. Truth be told, these words are spoken everywhere I go. In the USA, Africa, India, Central/South America, the Caribbean, and Asia, the mission-crippling idea of scarcity has caused more leaders to stop.
In our first post on this subject (go back and read it), we talked about how the laws of leverage help us discover power beyond our strength. Simply put, we have more than we know, much more, and we access these resources through the laws of leverage.
The first thing on our list of what leaders leverage is what we possess. When I say this, often people look at me like I shouted something important in a different language, and they cannot figure out what I mean. Let me help; when I say what do you possess, I actually mean - “What you have.”
Make a list.
A Car.
A bike.
A home.
A computer.
A phone.
A TV.
A stove.
A kitchen.
A pantry of food.
Make your own list and be creative and broad; it should be a long list.
I took one of my dear friends through this process, and he settled in on his tea-pot. Yep, you read that right, his tea-pot. With his tea-pot and some tea (also something he had), he began to make tea for people in his city. “Come over, and we will have tea.” Soon his “tea-dates” that came from seeing his tea-pot as something he possessed became a regular time with a few people. One by one, these people saw the love and life of Jesus through my friend, and they placed their trust in Christ.
Before these tea-dates, my friend would swear that he had nothing and lived in scarcity. After making his list of what he had, he began to see people meet Jesus after settling in on his tea-pot. Why? Because he began to leverage “What he had” and discovered a power to connect with others, that was beyond his strength.
What do you have? Look at your list and pick one to two things and apply these three questions:
1) Does what I have, give me the opportunity to invite? My friend used his tea-pot as an opportunity to invite a stranger to sit. He leveraged a tea-pot as an opportunity to invite.
2) Does it give me an opportunity to share? When Covid-19 hit, Merrily (my amazing wife) and I decided we wanted to take what we had and share it. We have made many meals for people and shared them, opening doors to share the bread of life and the living water (Jesus) with others.
3) Does it give me an opportunity to be kind? Paul, a first-century follower of Jesus and writer of 13 books in the Bible, wrote this sentence:
“Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”Romans 2:4 NLT
Do not think of or take kindness as a small thing. God’s kindness is what draws us to turn to him from our sin.
When we leverage what we have, we start to show the kindness of God to others. That is all for today. Make that list.