How To Be A Successful Nobody Series

Years ago a very famous organist was giving a recital on a new

organ. The wind was pumped by a small boy behind a screen. The

boy pumped his heart out at this recital, and he was glad for the

intermission half way through the program. Out in the vestry of the

church the boy looked up at the great organist and said, "Aren't we

wonderful?" Chilled with pride the iceberg responded, "Who's we?"

Saddened, the lad returned to his pump for the climax of the recital.

The organist pressed the keys for the opening cord, but only silence

came from the majestic pipes. The signal must have failed the

organist thought, and so he repeated it and then pressed again for the

thunder to come. No thunder came. There was only a small voice

from behind the screen saying, "Now who's we?"

We make a great blunder in life if we fail to recognize the

importance of obscure, behind the scenes people. Ida Tarbell, in the

biography of many famous persons, was asked on her 80th birthday to

name the greatest people she had ever met, and she replied, "Those

nobody knows anything about." Some of the greatest and famous

people in the history book of God are obscure nobodies in the history

books of men. Sometimes it happens that obscurity is a blessing

because it leaves a person free to give their life in service rather than

in display. The poet put it-

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us-don't tell!

They'd banish us you know.

How dreary to be somebody!

How public like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day to an admiring bog.

Author unknown

This can be a false sense of humility, and an excuse for not doing

your best. If we are going to be famous before God, even though

obscure and unknown before men, we have to learn some basic truths

about what our responsibility is, and what God can do through us. We

can learn these truths very simply by looking at the obscure little lad

whose 5 loaves and 2 fish were the resource used for one of the

greatest of all miracles. We know very little about him, but that little

can make a big difference in our lives. All we know is that he had

some loaves and fish, but two important truths stand out, which

become principles for life. First-

I. WHAT HE HAD WAS MADE AVAILABLE-HE GAVE IT.

The question is not, how much do you have, but is what you have

available? You don't have to have great wealth and ability to be

famous with God, and useful to man. The widow had only a mite, but

in giving it she made all she had available for God's use, and this made

her great in the eyes of Christ. We know very little about one of the

most famous persons in the Bible-the Good Samaritan. We don't even

know his name. We don't know what he had in the way of material

possessions. All we know is that what he had was available. He had

time, compassion, and some degree of wealth, and God used him.

Others pass by who may have had more, but having is not the secret of

blessedness, but giving is.

A lad with 5 loaves and 2 fish is not endowed with great resources.

"What are these among so many?" We often feel that our talents and

abilities are so few that it is futile to offer them in God's service. The

problems and needs are so vast that the magnitude of them

overwhelms us. We look at our gifts and say, "What are these among

so many?" We forget this basic truth that it is not just our ability that

counts, but our availability. God does not ask for what you do not

have. He only asks that you give what you have. Jesus did not expect

the lad to feed the five thousand. All He needed was for the boy to

give what he had. It is up to us to do our best, and up to Christ to do

the rest.

Be unselfish with whatever you do have, and you will be a famous

giver in the eyes of God, and in the eyes of those who benefit from

your making what you have available. Marion Simms in Your Life

told the story of a girl who wanted to give her older sister a birthday

gift, but she had no money in her bank. But that did not stump her,

for the really unselfish person always has something to give. When

her sister opened her package she found an envelope tied with a

ribbon. Inside were three colored slips of paper with a gift printed on