The Ripple Effect

Do you ever look around at others who are making a difference and question whether you can do the same? Sometimes it just takes one act of obedience, surrender, courage, passion, or generosity to dramatically affect the lives of others.

When Moses obeyed God (though reluctantly) and confronted Pharaoh, the people of Israel were delivered from bondage (Exodus 12:31-50). Esther’s one act of courage to go before the king even though it could have meant death, led to the deliverance of the Jewish people (Esther 4:1-6:6). Abraham surrendered his son, Isaac, so God promised to bless him and promised through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:16-18).

Luke 21:1-4 gives the account of the woman who gave her last coins to the treasury of the temple. Her generosity is still being talked about over 2,000 years later. Another woman went to the house of a Pharisee in order to anoint Jesus with perfume and tears. She is still an example to us today of courage as well as passion for Jesus (Luke 7:36-50).

When Saul was traveling to Damascus to persecute the followers of Jesus, He had an encounter with the living Christ. The Lord spoke to Ananias in a vision to go to him to pray for him. At first, Ananias questioned the Lord as he knew Saul’s past, but he obeyed. The rest is literally history as Paul went on to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and write much of the New Testament.

In more recent times, we see the following ripple effect. A Sunday School teacher named Edward Kimball won a shoe clerk, D.L. Moody, to Christ. D.L. Moody traveled to England and impacted a young pastor, F.B. Meyer. Pastor Meyer went on preach at college campuses in the United States and was used to convert a student, Wilbur Chapman to Christ. Wilbur later became one of Moody’s co-workers after Moody preached in Chicago and employed Billy Sunday as an assistant. Billy Sunday became a great evangelist and preached in Charlotte, North Carolina, organized by the Billy Sunday Layman’s Evangelistic Club (renamed Christian Business Men’s Committee CBMC). CBMC invited an evangelist, Mordecai Ham, to preach, and Billy Graham was saved at one of his meetings.

What is God asking of you today? It may seem like a small thing, but we are told not to despise the day of small beginnings (Zechariah 4:10). Never underestimate the powerful ripple effect of one act of obedience, surrender, courage, passion, or generosity.

–  Bonnie Hammer