Faith     

As a school teacher, it is interesting to watch children grasp the different disciplines of life.  Math is often a challenge for the little ones.  They start by counting shapes and objects and then are taught to make groups and add them together.  Adding in groups becomes a new and exciting exercise.  They hang on to this one as though they have finally reached the end of learning.  Multiplying seems to frighten a lot of students.  Getting their times tables learned is often a challenge and understanding how multiplying is faster than their familiar method of addition seems to keep them from stepping into this new amazing way of handling numbers.  When Jesus came to this world the "addition" of people into the faith was about all they were comfortable with.  They had adjusted and added to the law and were pretty content with the systems they had put together.  His radical teaching bothered the religious leaders of His time.  For three years He poured Himself into the disciples and just before ascending He left them with the instructions to multiply.  His instructions were opposite to the current trends.  He told His disciples to go and teach others what He had taught them.  These then were to teach others the same. In other words, He was saying it is time to multiply.

Did you realize that today only about one out of ten people attend some church at all?  That includes all the churches.  When it comes to Bible believing churches the ratio gets even smaller.  So how can you and I make a difference?  Years ago I became discouraged with the same thought.  I sat down at my computer and put together a spread sheet to see what an impact one person could make.  I was totally amazed at the results of those simple calculations.  I found out that if I shared my faith with one person each week and only one person responded per month and then shared their faith and had similar results, in about two years all of the USA would have heard the gospel four times!  Life of course does not follow math formulas exactly, but we do see the impact of what Jesus was telling His disciples.  Start where you are, live, and share your faith.  Teach others to do the same and this wonderful message of hope and life will change the world around you.  One person tells and teaches one.  Two people tell and teach two more.  The outreach grows to 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1,024....  That is just the results of one person following what Jesus told us to do.  Christians are content today with the same procedures Jesus found when He came 2,000 years go.  They want to add but few are willing to learn how to multiply.  It isn't your church that needs to get with the program, it is you and me.  We can make the difference we need when we follow the pattern Jesus gave us.   A good question to ask yourself is, do I have any spiritual children?  Is anybody following my spiritual leadership?  The Apostle Paul invited people to follow him as he followed Christ.  That is the process of multiplication.  That is true discipleship.  Are you ready to become a part of Jesus' program?  Today is your day of opportunity.   It is time to start multiplying.