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If you are a Star Trek fan like me, you are no doubt familiar with Spock’s maxim that, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…or the one.” It illustrates his sacrificial love for his friends. But that’s a spiritual metaphor for another day.

Spock’s maxim reminds me of a useful phrase about ministry, albeit somewhat inverted: “Do for some what you wish you could do for many.” It’s an important reminder for us today.

When ministry begins to make positive differences in people’s lives, it feels natural for us to want more.

More time.

More volunteers.

More resources.

We become confident that we could effectively serve “the many” if we simply had more.

And maybe we could.

But the reality is that God has already provided us with what he knows we need for today, even if it’s not our definition of more. Faithfulness to God is serving him with what we do have. It might not be as much as we want, but like the apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:11-13, we can learn to be content in this circumstance. We might want more, but God has given us enough for today.

Using what we have today, we do for some what we wish we could do for many.