Day Eighteen: An Unlikely Candidate (Mark 4:26-29)
Devotional: William seemed an unlikely candidate to impact the world. He was born in an obscure, rural village in England. As a young man he worked as a shoemaker. Early in his marriage, his first born daughter died when she was two. The family sunk into poverty. But William felt a calling to go into missions, though he had very limited education. Despite all of this, in 1793 he and his family took a ship to India to work as missionaries.
But they had very little success in their early years. The other couple who had went with them would abandon the mission within a couple years. William contracted malaria and nearly died. He had a 5 year-old son die of dysentery. And it was all too much for his wife who became mentally ill and confined to a bed. Of those years he would write, “This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death or me”.
But he didn’t give up. He would go on and write to a friend that he had “no Christian friend, a large family, and nothing to supply their wants.” But then wrote, “Well, I have God, and His Word is sure.” God would honor his beliefs in God’s power and His Word. It would take seven years, but William finally baptized his first convert to Jesus. He would go on to translate the entire Bible into Bengali and 5 other languages, and parts of the Bible into 209 other languages.
By the time he died, William Carey had spent 41 years in India, led over 700 to Christ, brought education and social reform to the country, and has been called “The father of modern missions”. Legendary missionaries Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, and David Livingstone credit him as their inspiration for pursuing missions. He is known for saying, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God!”
Never underestimate what God can do in a person, even if they seem an unlikely candidate. William Carey believed in the power of God’s Word and he gave his life to reading it, teaching it, and translating it. Carey was right, “His Word is sure”. Remember this… Let the Word loose and watch it work!
That’s what Jesus was getting at in today’s passage. When He talks about the seed being planted and it producing fruit with very little help from the farmer, He’s reminding the disciples that it is God’s power through His Word that will advance the kingdom of God. Our part is to be faithful to the Word. To “scatter seed” into the lives of those around us. And when we do, watch out!
Jesus will return some day, as He put it, “the harvest has come”. And we will see just how much impact people who were committed to sharing the Word really had. Daniel Akin wrote, in his exposition on Mark, in regards to the kingdom of God, that “God planted it in the coming of a Galilean peasant, a homeless man from Nazareth, who gathered about Him a bunch of nobodies.”
God doesn’t need much. But He is looking for people who will expect great things from God as they attempt great things for God.
Prayer: Take some time to think about how God could use you to share His Word with others. Take time and ask God to open those doors in your life.
Devotional: William seemed an unlikely candidate to impact the world. He was born in an obscure, rural village in England. As a young man he worked as a shoemaker. Early in his marriage, his first born daughter died when she was two. The family sunk into poverty. But William felt a calling to go into missions, though he had very limited education. Despite all of this, in 1793 he and his family took a ship to India to work as missionaries.
But they had very little success in their early years. The other couple who had went with them would abandon the mission within a couple years. William contracted malaria and nearly died. He had a 5 year-old son die of dysentery. And it was all too much for his wife who became mentally ill and confined to a bed. Of those years he would write, “This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death or me”.
But he didn’t give up. He would go on and write to a friend that he had “no Christian friend, a large family, and nothing to supply their wants.” But then wrote, “Well, I have God, and His Word is sure.” God would honor his beliefs in God’s power and His Word. It would take seven years, but William finally baptized his first convert to Jesus. He would go on to translate the entire Bible into Bengali and 5 other languages, and parts of the Bible into 209 other languages.
By the time he died, William Carey had spent 41 years in India, led over 700 to Christ, brought education and social reform to the country, and has been called “The father of modern missions”. Legendary missionaries Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, and David Livingstone credit him as their inspiration for pursuing missions. He is known for saying, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God!”
Never underestimate what God can do in a person, even if they seem an unlikely candidate. William Carey believed in the power of God’s Word and he gave his life to reading it, teaching it, and translating it. Carey was right, “His Word is sure”. Remember this… Let the Word loose and watch it work!
That’s what Jesus was getting at in today’s passage. When He talks about the seed being planted and it producing fruit with very little help from the farmer, He’s reminding the disciples that it is God’s power through His Word that will advance the kingdom of God. Our part is to be faithful to the Word. To “scatter seed” into the lives of those around us. And when we do, watch out!
Jesus will return some day, as He put it, “the harvest has come”. And we will see just how much impact people who were committed to sharing the Word really had. Daniel Akin wrote, in his exposition on Mark, in regards to the kingdom of God, that “God planted it in the coming of a Galilean peasant, a homeless man from Nazareth, who gathered about Him a bunch of nobodies.”
God doesn’t need much. But He is looking for people who will expect great things from God as they attempt great things for God.
Prayer: Take some time to think about how God could use you to share His Word with others. Take time and ask God to open those doors in your life.
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