Who gets the credit?
Who gets the credit?
Every Tuesday is staff devotion day and today we had the privilege of having Dr Kofi from PI to share God's Word with us.
Dr Kofi highlighted 2 persons in the Bible who were contented with quietly working in the background, but who faithfully carry out the work of the Lord, and allowed Him to use them for His glory.
The first person is Shamgar - I guess very few, or perhaps none of us, have any clue about who this guy is. Precisely! Shamgar (Judges 3:31) is one of the judge mentioned in the book of Judges, and only 1 verse was written about him and what he did. We seemed to honor and highlight prominent judges like Gideon (with 3 chapters in the book of Judges written about him) or Samson (with 4 chapters), but those judges that are not so prominent are not highlighted at all. After all, they too share a part in delivering Israel from the hands of their enemies!!
Shamgar's name ironically means "stranger" and he did seem to be a stranger to all of us, and perhaps his own people after all he had done. He was a farmer working in Israel and all he had then was an oxgoad - which was something that was used to control oxen when they stray. With what he had in his hand, he killed 600 Philistines - one by one, one at a time.
The second person is Andrew, the brother of the apostle Peter. John 1:40-42 describes how Andrew introduced Jesus to Peter. In fact, without this incident, there won't be the existence of the apostle Peter. Although Andrew and Peter were siblings, but their personality were almost total opposites! Andrew was solid, prudent and steady whereas Peter was impulsive and reactive. The mention of Andrew occurs 13x in the NT, and on 3 occasions when it was mentioned, Andrew was always doing something - bringing people to Jesus. He was the first to believe in Jesus, the first to begin mission and evangelism from where he was (ie. bringing Peter to Christ). The second occasion records how Andrew brought the boy with 5 loaves and 2 fishes (John 6:1-13) and the third was when Andrew brought some Greeks to Jesus (John 12:22).
Interestingly, in John 12:22, Philip was the one who brought the Greeks to Andrew, who in turn introduced them to Jesus. Why did Philip not bring the Greeks to Peter? Perhaps Philip knew that Peter's response would perhaps be to brush aside the importance of these Greeks, and the place that Gentiles have in the kingdom of God. Not so with Andrew - whether he knew how God regarded the Gentiles or not, he did what he felt he needed to - simply bringing them to Jesus as they had requested. Andrew does have the art of quietly bringing people to Jesus' feet, doesn't he?
Notice also that whenever Andrew was mentioned, it was usually in connection to "Simon Peter's brother". While Peter was in the inner circle of Christ, Andrew wasn't; and whenever his name was mentioned, it was in reference to his brother. Yet all this matters not to Andrew, who faithfully labor and gets the job done. For him, as long as the job gets done, it matters not who gets the credit! Indeed, Andrew labored privately so that Peter can preach publicly!
From the lives of these 2 persons, we can safely conclude how God delights in using ordinary people with ordinary things for His own glory and purpose. We may forget the contributions of these insignificant persons but God remembers and God honors them!! Praise be to God!
Every Tuesday is staff devotion day and today we had the privilege of having Dr Kofi from PI to share God's Word with us.
Dr Kofi highlighted 2 persons in the Bible who were contented with quietly working in the background, but who faithfully carry out the work of the Lord, and allowed Him to use them for His glory.
The first person is Shamgar - I guess very few, or perhaps none of us, have any clue about who this guy is. Precisely! Shamgar (Judges 3:31) is one of the judge mentioned in the book of Judges, and only 1 verse was written about him and what he did. We seemed to honor and highlight prominent judges like Gideon (with 3 chapters in the book of Judges written about him) or Samson (with 4 chapters), but those judges that are not so prominent are not highlighted at all. After all, they too share a part in delivering Israel from the hands of their enemies!!
Shamgar's name ironically means "stranger" and he did seem to be a stranger to all of us, and perhaps his own people after all he had done. He was a farmer working in Israel and all he had then was an oxgoad - which was something that was used to control oxen when they stray. With what he had in his hand, he killed 600 Philistines - one by one, one at a time.
The second person is Andrew, the brother of the apostle Peter. John 1:40-42 describes how Andrew introduced Jesus to Peter. In fact, without this incident, there won't be the existence of the apostle Peter. Although Andrew and Peter were siblings, but their personality were almost total opposites! Andrew was solid, prudent and steady whereas Peter was impulsive and reactive. The mention of Andrew occurs 13x in the NT, and on 3 occasions when it was mentioned, Andrew was always doing something - bringing people to Jesus. He was the first to believe in Jesus, the first to begin mission and evangelism from where he was (ie. bringing Peter to Christ). The second occasion records how Andrew brought the boy with 5 loaves and 2 fishes (John 6:1-13) and the third was when Andrew brought some Greeks to Jesus (John 12:22).
Interestingly, in John 12:22, Philip was the one who brought the Greeks to Andrew, who in turn introduced them to Jesus. Why did Philip not bring the Greeks to Peter? Perhaps Philip knew that Peter's response would perhaps be to brush aside the importance of these Greeks, and the place that Gentiles have in the kingdom of God. Not so with Andrew - whether he knew how God regarded the Gentiles or not, he did what he felt he needed to - simply bringing them to Jesus as they had requested. Andrew does have the art of quietly bringing people to Jesus' feet, doesn't he?
Notice also that whenever Andrew was mentioned, it was usually in connection to "Simon Peter's brother". While Peter was in the inner circle of Christ, Andrew wasn't; and whenever his name was mentioned, it was in reference to his brother. Yet all this matters not to Andrew, who faithfully labor and gets the job done. For him, as long as the job gets done, it matters not who gets the credit! Indeed, Andrew labored privately so that Peter can preach publicly!
From the lives of these 2 persons, we can safely conclude how God delights in using ordinary people with ordinary things for His own glory and purpose. We may forget the contributions of these insignificant persons but God remembers and God honors them!! Praise be to God!
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