I want to do a follow up on Marvin Campbell’s letter to US Navigators. Part of it reminded us:

What we do as Navigators has never been about quick wins. We care about the ripple, not the splash. We walk closely with people—anchored in the Word and dependent on the Spirit—until truth becomes obedience and obedience becomes transformation.

In other words, I want to be part of a movement that generates fruit forever. Not one dependent on me. That’s why I invest in people. Jesus said,

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last… (John 15.16, NIV, emphasis mine)

“Investing in people…” is what Marvin Campbell is describing above. It’s not just preaching truth as important as that is. It’s not enough to know the truth. That truth must be translated into obedience, which ultimately results in transformation.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

As I was meditating on these thoughts, a story came to mind that, when I looked it up, comes from a quote attributed to Archbishop Desmund Tutu.

“We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”

For example, there’s an article in Christianity Today that argues that gambling is a spiritual problem. I encourage you to read the article in its entirety. It opens with a brief description of the mammoth gambling problem we have in this country. Then he writes:

What do Americans want, exactly, when they gamble? I suspect the answer is spiritual. To me, at least, all this gambling sounds like wild, misdirected prayer. – Daniel Silliman

The solution is to walk with people, teaching them to love Jesus, so that they’re not seeking satisfaction in the wrong places. But there are A LOT of people! And therefore, we need A LOT of what Jesus called “workers:”

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9.35 – 38, NIV)