Today’s blog is to honor a man you probably don’t know, but whose example I would exhort you to follow. Grandpa Wilson is actually my husband’s grandfather, but I’ve happily adopted him as my own. Grandpa Wilson has been a faithful member of his church for over forty years. During that time he’s constructed church buildings, given generously of his resources, and spent countless hours serving others through church ministries. He’s lived a life that you would expect of a seasoned Christian.
But what if I told you that Grandpa Wilson has had trouble with his health for the past forty years, ever since being diagnosed with a terminal heart condition and being given just a few months to live in the early part of the 1970’s, and has had increasing troubles in the last ten? Would that change the way you view his over four decades of service?
You see, I’ve been struck – humbled, even – by Grandpa Wilson’s giving lifestyle. Some people have a difficult time motivating themselves to come to church every Sunday, let alone participate in all of those “extra things” that are going on.
It obviously hasn’t always been easy for Grandpa Wilson to get up and go. I’m sure there have been many days in Grandpa Wilson’s life when pain racked his body but, still, he joyfully went about working unto the Lord not man.
So why do it? Why not excuse himself from being “that” involved? It would be easy to make excuses, after all. So, why do it? Because Grandpa Wilson loves Jesus.
If anything other than a love of Jesus is motivating you to be a member of your local church (or, really, do anything that Christ commands us to do) then you’ve missed the mark. We need to be radically transformed by Christ to desire the things He desires for us. Don’t think, though, that you must do anything for God to make Him pleased with you. God the Father is pleased with you by the work of God the Son, totally unrelated to your efforts. God serves us so that we might serve others with the Gospel. And when we have the heart of Christ, we will be willing servants – regardless of our circumstances – just like Grandpa Wilson.