Jesus Gets the Credit

I think it was Jerry Clower who said there is no telling what can be accomplished as long as it doesn’t matter who gets the credit. I would like to alter that slightly so it says that there is no telling what can be accomplished as long as Jesus gets the credit. We can expend a lot of time and energy making sure people know how much we have done, or we can direct our efforts at bringing honor to the only one who deserves the credit. I believe one of the best ways we honor God is when we work together with His people.

Last week a group of churches came together in the Spartanburg area in an effort to reach out to families in our area. Challenge 09 featured the Strength Team, a group of Christian athletes who do feats of strength, share testimonies, and invite people to become followers of Jesus Christ. I had the opportunity to be around several of these guys during the week. As far as I could tell they were the real deal. In fact most of them have their own ministries separate from the Strength Team. The Lord used them to help bring more than 100 people into His family. There were also about the same number of believers who publicly recommitted their lives to the Lord.

One of the things I enjoyed about Challenge 09 was the fellowship with other Christians. The Greek word translated fellowship is koinonia. It is bonding in the Spirit of God. I sensed it last week, and I believe it was primarily because we came together as God’s people in a common effort to honor Him. On the night before He died, Jesus met with His followers. John 17 reveals that He prayed for them and for those who follow Him later. The focus of that prayer was for unity. So even before we were born and then reborn into His Kingdom, Jesus prayed for us to be unified. That tells me we need to always make sure we are focused on working together to make sure Jesus is the only one who gets the credit. Satan will always try to distract us, divide us, and destroy us! Let’s keep our focus where it belongs!

Yours for the Kingdom,
David Swofford