It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. * We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. * No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. * This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities. * We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, and opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest. * We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. * Amen *

Oscar Romero wrote this. If you don’t know who Bishop Romero was, then go here: Oscar Romero: Bishop of the Poor.

I think this is the biggest area American Christians fail in: it’s not about us. It’s about God–always has been, always will be. We are only one of part of his Kingdom–not the be all, end all. He is in control; this is his reign; and our responsibility is to obey him and do what we can where we are. God will use our little bit of yeast and continue to build his reign.

Sovereign God, Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.