Thought- If you do little things like they are big things, God will do big things like they are little things.” – Mark Batterson from the Book Chasing the Lion.
Scripture- “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:10-11
Insight: In day 27 of learning to apply biblical principles to our daily life, what we are referring to as Practical Christianity, let’s consider what it means to take seemingly small steps of faith that occasionally result in large impacts. Little things matter! It took me almost 50 years of living to fully comprehend that not only do little things matter, but life is made up almost entirely of little things, that if done right, once in a while turn into really big things. We live in a world of instant gratification, so taking little steps to reach a goal is not in vogue. People want to play in the Super Bowl without having to go through the grind of pre-season. People want a successful job as CEO of a company, without having to first learn many lessons through practical experience and many failures. However, over time it is the little things we do every day that allow for big things to happen later.
Practicing hard each day for a sport can lead to a great performance on game day at the most crucial time. Studying hard or working hard day after day can seem irrelevant at the time, but it can have a cumulative effect that reaches a crescendo of results in a single moment. When you pay someone a small compliment, sometimes that may have a very large impact on that person’s life that won’t be fully known for many years. Likewise, when we throw small pebbles of faith, the ripple effects of our acts may not be fully known even in our lifetime. But God can take our seemingly small acts of faith and turn them into really big things. What seemingly small things can you do today that may have a large impact for tomorrow? Putting others before ourselves is counter intuitive in today’s culture, but Jesus taught it is the way to real life. Speaking God’s word of truth into someone’s heart is something with eternal impact. Feeding the poor, helping the marginalized, praying for others who are hurting may seem like small things, but they can have huge impacts in God’s eternal kingdom. As the scripture above from Isaiah 55:10-11 promises, when we move in alignment with God’s purposes, He will not allow our words or deeds to return empty or void of accomplishments. We take care to make a little step of faith, and God produces big results. It is a process worth repeating over and over in our lives. Our job is to be faithful with the planting and watering of seeds of faith. God will take care of the growth.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your power than can take our little things, our little acts of faith, and turn them into things with large impacts. You are amazing at multiplying our efforts for your eternal glory. Thank you for letting us play a small part in your grand tapestry of human history, both now and for all eternity. Amen!
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