A younger person would likely start this blog post with the letters TBH. Which for the uninitiated stands for, “to be honest.”

In other words, this is a bit of a soul-baring post.

I’ve been writing blog posts for a long time now. My writing journey sometimes feels like I’m wearing too-big-for-me gum boots and trudging through winding paths that are not going anywhere.

I wrote my first blog post when I was 25 years old. Let’s just say, I ain’t 25 anymore.

I look at my life and think, “Shouldn’t I have gotten somewhere by now? Shouldn’t my readership be significantly larger by now? Shouldn’t I be selling my bestseller by now?”

And I say in a whiny voice, “God, You know how long I’ve prayed for more readers!”

But God says to me: “Yes, you prayed for more readers. Now, pray more for your readers.”

Friends, especially those of you who may be in some form of ministry, it’s easy to be caught up in the size of your “impact.” It’s easy to get frustrated by the stagnant numbers. It’s easy to ask, “What’s the point?” when the “results” aren’t spectacular.

But maybe God is telling you—as He has been telling me—to focus more on the depth of your ministry than the width of it.

Today’s world, especially the Christian social media world, is all about garnering more followers and building bigger platforms.

Even solid, grounded Christian speakers post messages on Instagram that read something like this: “One million followers? Dang! God’s doing a thing in my life. All glory to Him!” Maybe they truly want to glorify God for their platforms. But the emphasis is always on the size of the audience.

Our human bent of mind seems to believe that bigger is better. But what if deeper is actually better?

I don’t know what your calling is. But here’s what I know it’s not: You’re not called to please people. You are called to please God. And many, many times that could mean a smaller sphere of influence because you’re not saying the things that people’s itching ears want to hear.

If my blogs, for instance, were all about self-love, manifesting what you want, naming and claiming certain gifts from God, self-help, look-deep-within, you-do-you type material, I would likely have more people lapping it up.

But as I read 1 Thessalonians today, God reminded me that my calling is to encourage, comfort and urge others to live lives worthy of God.

It sounds fairly simple. But before I share with others, I first need to preach that truth to myself. I first need to challenge myself to live a life worthy of the gospel.

Friends, some of you have been on this blogging journey with me for years now. Thank you for your loyal readership. But here’s something I’m embarrassed to admit: I haven’t prayed for you as I ought to have. I haven’t always seen the value of ministering to a few because I was caught up with the shiny idea of ministering to many.

But here’s a good reminder for us: Jesus didn’t ever overlook the individual because He never obsessed over the multitude. The crowds came to Him. But He never chased the crowds. You know what He went after? He went after the one lost sheep.

Today, I would first like to encourage you in your ministry—whether that’s as a mom, in the corporate world, as a teacher, a retired person, or wherever He may have placed you—if what you’re doing matters to even one person, it matters. Go deeper in conversations, in prayer, in being available, in humility, in listening, in sharing your vulnerable moments, and in building that relationship.

And second, I’d love to ask you a question I haven’t asked before in my years of blogging: How can I pray for you?

I couldn’t ask that question if I had a million followers because it simply wouldn’t be practical. But in a scenario of going deeper than wider, I have the privilege of asking that.

Would you drop me a note using the contact form if you’d like prayer?

It would be an honor to pray more for my readers than to pray for more readers.

God bless you as you go deeper rather than wider in your calling.

 

 

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