The Ministry of One

1/21/2025

Written By: Frieda Dowler

“And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” “Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12: 310, 31b NLT

There have been many messages from prominent people about discovering God’s plan and our purpose in life. They’re designed to prompt us to live our lives intentionally for God, but sometimes those messages can make us feel like we’re not doing enough. It may even tempt us to believe we need to develop a platform that will catapult the message to millions of listeners. A platform with us at the center. But God’s plan is simple and so is our purpose. To live for him, with him at the center of everything.

Satan’s ploy is to twist the focus toward us and not toward God’s message of love, redemption, and hope. I seriously doubt Mother Teresa focused on building a platform to reach millions. But she did reach millions by focusing on showing God’s love to the unlovely.

Often, our focus is on the wrong thing.

Early in our marriage, Bruce and I were influenced by the then trending message of prosperity. It is the belief that financial blessings and physical well-being are always God’s will for Christians. Our goals were lofty. Even prideful. We believed God wanted us to be successful, and we were going for it. So we started a business that shortly became a statistic.

Statistics say fifty percent of new businesses fail within the first five years and we were right there, failing only three years in. We were attending church regularly, were generous tithers, and proclaimed to know God intimately, and we told everyone. Then why would he allow this failure? Because he wanted us to refocus.

We had to learn the hard way he only wanted us to be obedient to his leading. He wanted us to live for him with him at the center of everything we did. It was evident in our conversations he wasn’t the major topic. But as an ending to most conversations, we gave thanks to God for what he was doing.

We were humbled after our failure, but not defeated. We had each other in our struggle and we committed to refocus. We took a six-month sabbatical to listen to God and his leading. He led where we didn’t expect. We expected to go to a foreign mission field, but God led us to a cornfield in the country where they were building new businesses. He told us our mission field would be within the walls of a hair salon in this rural community. To paraphrase his direction, he said; I’m giving you a mission field here because people everywhere need to know me. I’m going to give you a one-on-one audience ten to fifteen times a day so you can tell them about me!

It was humbling. We didn’t want the focus on us. We had no grand success to talk about. The prosperity message withered, and the truth came alive. We showed up daily, committed to believing in the faithfulness of God. We joined a wonderful community. We cherish those days and the community that welcomed us in and heard our message.

It was a message of love, redemption, and hope based on the story of Jesus. The goal of personal success became secondary. Over time, we became a different statistic. Only thirty-five percent of businesses last more than ten years. Our business provided for our needs for the following 38 years, but it was also a place where we offered care and prayer for anyone who would receive it.

So, back to the current trendy Christian subject, building your platform. You already have a platform. It’s your message as a spouse, parent, neighbor, friend, or co-worker. I’ve often referred to this paraphrased quote, “People may not remember what you said, but they always remember how you made them feel.” Everyone in your life needs to feel the love of God.

What is the focus of your daily life? If it revolves around you, then you might consider the price that’s been paid for you. Each of us owes our lives to God, not the other way around. It’s by his hand we are alive. We should be so caught up in that awesome reality that we want to share it however we can. Like Mother Teresa.

A song performed by Casting Crowns in 2018 has noble words to remember:

Make it count, leave a mark, build a name for yourself
Dream your dreams, chase your heart, above all else
Make a name the world remembers
But all an empty world can sell is empty dreams
I got lost in the lie that it was up to me
To make a name the world remembers
But Jesus is the only name to remember

And I don't want to leave a legacy
I don't care if they remember me
Only Jesus
And I've only got one life to live
I'll let every second point to Him
Only Jesus

All the kingdoms built, all the trophies won
Will crumble into dust when it's said and done
'Cause all that really matters
Did I live the truth to the ones I love?
Was my life the proof that there is only
One Whose name will last forever?