July 20, 2011

To God's Unsung Heroes

To God's Unsung Heroes
T
he story of the “little maid” who witnessed to Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, has always fascinated me (see 2 Kings 5:1-4). I’m not sure I would have chosen a young slave to witness to one of the most important families in the Syrian Empire. But commenting on this experience, Ellen White wrote: “A slave, far from her home, this little maid was nevertheless one of God’s witnesses, unconsciously fulfilling the purpose for which God had chosen Israel as His people” (Prophets and Kings, p. 244).

At times God surprises us. The people He chooses to represent Him don’t often fit our stereotypes of people influential enough to make a significant difference in the world. Nevertheless, this simple, humble slave girl “[fulfilled] the purpose for which God [chose] Israel as His people.”

On a recent trip to Brazil I met Gilma Chagas, the mayor of Corina, in the state of Sergipe. She recently became a Seventh-day Adventist through the influence of a cleaning woman who worked in the city offices. This godly servant gave the mayor a book about the Sabbath. It lay untouched and unread in the mayor’s office for weeks.

One afternoon the mayor felt compelled to read the book. She was deeply convicted regarding the Sabbath. Rather than quickly accepting what she read, the mayor spent hours in the library researching the Sabbath. She visited an Adventist Book Center and purchased the Conflict of the Ages Series, by Ellen White. Finally, the mayor was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

God uses maids and mechanics, cooks and carpenters, cabdrivers and computer programmers, nannies and nurses, servants and salespeople every day to touch our sin-polluted planet with His grace.

You may not feel as if you are doing anything great, but each day you are faithfully, quietly witnessing for your Master.

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Mark A. Finley is editor at large of the Adventist Review. This article was published July 21,  2011.

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