The church I am currently serving has an incredible Care Ministry. It is organized, led, and maintained entirely by volunteers. They track people who are in need of a visit, a meal, a card, or a call, and deliver these things with grace, joy, and beauty.

When people first sign up to be a part of this wonderful thing, they are just happy to deliver an occasional meal to someone who needs it. What happens next is the incredible blessing that this ministry provides. The meal drop-off requires a phone contact, which turns into a visit, which ends up with someone getting to be heard, fed, and loved on. That is so much more than a hot meal. And then the volunteer returns home and realizes that THEY received the blessing of serving, and they know that for that one person, they were the image of Christ that day.

God takes our humble service and turns it into so much more when we do it with an open and generous heart.

We see this in the Old Testament, when a father named Jesse sent his youngest son David out to the battlefield to deliver lunch to his brothers.

1 Samuel 17

¹⁷ Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

That lunch turned into something so much bigger. David heard the challenge of the great giant Goliath, and realized that God sent him on lunch delivery that day for a much bigger purpose. David listened, God supplied a sling and a stone, and Goliath was defeated.

So if you’re the guy who shows up once a week to see that the little yellow pencils are all sharpened and placed in the pew pencil holders, know that one day, because somebody had access to that pencil, they wrote down a prayer request. The Prayer Ministry received it and faithfully prayed over it, and that person was healed…because you put the pencil there. If you’re the gal who runs to the store every month to buy the King’s Hawaiian Bread and grape juice, lays out the plates, locates the clean white napkins, and fills the chalices, know that we all received the Body of Christ because of your behind-the-scenes act of service.

What little thing is God calling you to do? He can do great things from your little service. When you are obedient, God can use all things great and small to bring hope and healing to his people through your effort. So go and sharpen that pencil! God is writing his story with it.