It just occurred to me that my unwillingness and/or slowness to move in a particular direction could very well be holding up endless other events God wants to see take place in my life and in the lives of people around me.
I’m not trying to say that the World Moves Through Joel in the Jackson-area. But it’s just a reflection how we sometimes forget that the kingdom’s equation is weighed heavily in the favor of those around us. It’s less like "ax+b=c", with our lives being x, and more like ax(b)(10^z)=c with z being all the other believers in the world.
(In case you’re wondering what I see the other variables being in this primitive example, a is God’s work in our personal lives, b is God’s work outside our personal lives and c is kingdom-producing fruit.)
We often think ourselves to be the deciding variable–the one with the most influence. And we just tack on what God is doing and/or wants to do in the lives of those around us as kingdom "bonus points."
I argue that while we all do play a significant role (if x is less than 1, we ultimately limit God’s work a, thus limiting the ultimate crop c). However, if we play our role, we’ll ultimately see God’s work b multiplied tremendously by the sheer volume z of willing saints.
Obviously, life is a lot more complex than this (…and all you math majors, teachers, engineers and the like can keep your mouth shut about my equation–it’s for illustrative purposes only…) and can’t be wrapped up in a simple equation. Just making the point that it’s important to play our role–but not necessarily because we are the Ultimate Variable. It’s more about multiplying the already-tremendous work God is doing in the lives of those around us.
