The Little Things
By Grant Gaines
How do you climb to the top of Mount Everest, complete a marathon, or hike the Appalachian Trail? It’s “easy”, you just take one step, then another, then another, and so on until you reach that mountain peak, cross that finish line, or reach your final destination. As the old Chinese proverb says, “Every great journey begins with a single step.”
This idea is not foreign to the Bible. In fact, it is one of the most often discussed topics – faithfulness. Faithfulness is being diligent and excellent in the little things. And while faithfulness’s definition focuses on the little things, the concept of faithfulness is by no means an insignificant topic to God.
In fact, the term “faithfulness” is used 82 times in Scripture. To give you a point of reference, “peace” (a pretty important subject, wouldn’t you agree?) is only used 32 times. That means that God mentions His desire for us to be faithful nearly three times as often as He mentions His desire for us to live in peace! Do you think He’s trying to make a point?
And when we as believers in Jesus Christ die, do you know what the greatest thing we can hope to hear from God is? It’s not, “You’re awesome!” It’s not, “Incredible work!” It’s not even, “You’re such a stud!” Instead, the greatest thing we can hope to hear the Lord Almighty say about us as we stand before Him in all His glory is, “…Well done good and faithful servant…” (Matthew 25:21, NIV, bold mine). God is looking for faithful followers.
He is looking for the mom who takes her kids to school and soccer practice day after day. He is looking for the fathers who, morning after morning, go to their thankless jobs and, “…work with all of [their] hearts, working for the Lord, not men” (Colossians 3:23, NIV). He is looking for children who, “…always obey [their] parents, for this pleases the Lord” (Colossians 3:20, NIV). He is looking for faithful followers.
And if you were to look for an example of a faithful follower in the Bible, it wouldn’t take you too long before you ran across the story of Noah in Genesis 5-9. When we first meet Noah, we learn that he is 500 years old (Genesis 5:32) and that God had given him the task of building a boat that would save the entire world (Genesis 6:13-21). Noah, his family, and the animals finally enter the arc when Noah is 600 years old (Genesis 7:6). Now I’m no math major but I do know that that’s a 100 year gap between the time God told Noah to build an arc and when the flood came.
That means that every day for a 100 year span, Noah went to work on this boat. And how did he go about the task of constructing an arc that would save mankind? One nail at a time, one day at a time, one year at a time until the boat was finally completed.
That’s the type of faithfulness God is looking for – a follower who will be diligent in doing the little things with all of their heart day after day.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV) says, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” We cannot have hearts that are fully committed to God in the big things if we don’t have a heart that is first fully committed to Him in the little things. We can’t be trusted as leaders until we can be trusted as followers. We can’t be trusted with a lot of money until we can be trusted with a little money. We can’t climb to the top of Mount Everest, complete a marathon, or hike the Appalachian Trail until we take the first step.
I know it can be difficult at times to remain faithful in the little things when we have such big dreams and ambitions, but remember, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” (Luke 16:10, NIV). God is looking for faithful followers.
Are you being faithful to the work God has called you to today?
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
