A Servant’s reward.

“Well done, good and faithful servant!” Matt 25:21

I wonder who is the ‘faithful servant’ who was obedient to God in leading you to Christ?
For the Apostle Paul it was Ananias who was obedient to God. If he hadn’t [reluctantly] been obedient to god then Paul would still be a blind convert rather than a Gentile evangelist.

In my story God’s faithful servants were Steve and Julia Roberts (not the Julia Roberts of course, she only became a Roberts when she later married Steve). It was their first time leading a small group on a youth camp. I was in their small group. While we did loads of outdoor activities together there was a youth service every evening. Afterwards Steve and Julia would spend time with our small group and discuss what had been talked about in the meeting. Doing this with a bunch of disinterested kids could not have been easy, but they were obedient. I doubt that they came away from any of these meetings thinking to themselves, ‘well, I reckon that went all right.’ I can only imagine that they were counting the minutes until it was all over.
Then one day towards the end of the camp I woke up with such a stomach ache that I didn’t go out all day. I was really uncomfortable. I tried to distract myself from this discomfort by thinking about everything that had been said during the week. After a day of this I realised that I had to ask Jesus into my life, and so I prayed.
I am in Christ today only because Julia and Steve were obedient to God’s call. They may not have been the most polished of youth leaders at the time (operating under a mix of adrenalin, faith and failure) but because of them and their witness [in what they said and how they behaved] God came near to me, and I to Him.

I thank God for them and I know that one day they will rejoice in hearing their Master’s voice welcoming them, “Well done, my good and faithful servants.”