Reading biographies helps us learn from the past. We read books about men like Jim Elliot and George Washington Carver, women like Amy Carmichael and Lottie Moon, and we are inspired. We want to live well. Maybe, we think, we too can leave the kind of mark on history that they left.
And while it’s incredibly valuable to study the lives of such people who went beyond the ordinary, I think it is easy to put them on a pedestal they would never have desired. Yes, some of them seem more like saints than do the people who surround us. But often we overlook the saints who are quietly serving in their own neighborhoods. Saints like our own mothers and great aunts and Sunday school teachers. These saints are the forgotten ones.
The Forgotten Ones
- She taught you how to tie your shoes in kindergarten because your parents were too busy.
- He bought your family a meal on Thanksgiving Day the year your dad lost his job.
- They visited you regularly in the rehabilitation center after your accident.
- She met with you regularly to study the Bible and pray during a time of your life when you thought nobody else cared for you.
- When they refused to deny Christ, militants killed them, leaving no one behind to tell what had happened.
Each one of us can tell a story about someone who intervened in our lives when we really needed a friend. Those people were messengers from God to us, although they didn’t wear a halo. Still others gave their lives for the cause of Christ in places where there were no other Christians. No one wrote their biographies.
Heaven remembers the forgotten ones of the world.
The world doesn’t know their names. Those of us who do know the saints on earth will die with our generation, and after us there will be no one to tell their stories.
But they are not forgotten by heaven. God wrote their names in the Book of Life, and when they reach the throne of God, they will receive their rewards. Just like in the parable Jesus told about the faithful servants, our Master will say to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:23
Yes, we should desire to do great things for the kingdom of God. And yes, we should also look for the small things God has entrusted to us. Teaching a child to tie his shoe, buying a meal, visiting the elderly…When done from love for Christ, these actions are sweet gifts He takes as though given directly to Him.
Photo by Adrien Taylor.
The Final Judgement
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:31-40
The people in this story sound ordinary. They showed hospitality to strangers, they fed the hungry, and they visited the prisoners. They weren’t presidents or kings. And they didn’t need to be; the Lord loved them.
Honor the forgotten ones, because they are honored in heaven.
Seek to be one who does every little thing for the glory of God. Though people will forget your name here on earth, they will remember Christ’s name. And the One whose praise matters most will reward you.
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Read the story of Marie Durand, the woman who was almost forgotten.
