Find the One Thing You Can Do

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
—2 Corinthians 5:10

Another regret many people have in their relationship with God is this: “I wish I had done more for God.”

My father died early in his sixties. He hadn’t been feeling well for a month or two, so he went to the doctor. They did exploratory surgery, and they said, “You’re eaten up with pancreatic cancer. You only have four months to live.” I watched my dad those last four months of his life try to make peace with certain parts of his life. He was a Christian; he had led his family to know Christ as Savior; he had encouraged us to come to church. But I remember sitting around the coffee table with him, listening to him express his regrets in life. And one of his chief regrets was, he said, “Robert, I wish I had been involved in ministry more.”

The fact is, it was an area that was lacking in his life. You know, 2 Corinthians 5:10 says that one day we’re all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and each one of us will give an account of our life for what we’ve done, whether it is good or worthless. Many of us are so busy doing things that we have to do right now that we don’t think about eternal things and investing in God’s kingdom work.

Today I want to challenge you, not necessarily to spend ten hours a week involved in ministry, but to find just one thing you can do to make an eternal impact for Christ. Some years ago Tony Campolo was in Washington, DC, speaking to a group of college students, and he gave them this challenge. He said, “The average person spends twenty hours a week watching television. Will you commit to spending just three hours a month visiting the elderly in the nursing home, teaching a Bible study, or working in some other form of ministry?” That day thousands of college students responded to Tony’s challenge, because it was something simple they could do. Or think about your own church. Will you at least spend forty-five minutes a week involved in some kind of ministry?

Last year in our church, we challenged our people to get involved in some kind of ministry. And we used this motto: “Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.” And we put on a card this one question, “If you could do anything in the church, what would you choose to do?” What’s the one thing you would choose to do if you could do anything in the church?

The Bible says if you’re a Christian, God is working in you to give you both the power and the desire to achieve His will. God has given every Christian a unique set of gifts and a unique passion to fulfill His purpose. Find that one thing you can do that makes an eternal impact for Christ and then do it. Start today!

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Living without Spiritual Regrets” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2009.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.