English Standard Version
If you had to draw up a plan to design a religion and have an end goal of it reaching every continent, what would your strategy be, especially if it had to be centered around one person? What kind of influencer or leader would that person be? Would she be an international business leader, or major politician? Would he be an athlete or a dynamic speaker? How would their message reach the world?
Or would you have that person spend the afternoons chatting with a woman living in scandal, ostracized in her own rural village far from the center of the world, helping her see the reality of the Kingdom of God?
Well, we know which path God chose, and Christianity can be found in every country on earth, so the foolishness of the Gospel shames all of the world's wisdom!
So when you look at something in the world that doesn't make sense, or you wonder how the church will survive, remember this story. Remember Jesus taking the time to explain the global impact of the church to a woman who simply needs to her that she is ok, even though life hasn't turned out like she planned. Remember that the Gospel takes little steps when looked at from the world's perspective, but these have eternal impact and will grow in ways we can scarcely understand.
When you look at the world and get discouraged by the state of affairs and wonder what the future of the church is, remember that the Gospel doesn't always spread through internationally known people, but it can spread in a noontime conversation, even if some of those participants are the farthest people down the list of powerful individuals. God is at work, friends, and when God is on the move, no force can thwart God's aim!
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