“Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.” – Zechariah 4:8-10
” “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and, when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.” -John 6:9-11
Being in the modern world where “big” means spectacular, noticeable, or amazing, it is easy for the modern Christian to be tempted to do things “the big way” – we need to have lots of money before we can go on this mission trip, we should have a big audience in a big stadium, with the big speakers and bright lights, because after all, it needs to be a “big” event.
But seldom do we know that in doing these things, our mind hinges on a mindset that everything should be done “big” in order to be noticed by everyone. And then we find ourselves constantly worried and thinking how to make something spectacular, to the point that we sacrifice our time, our energy and more in order to go big.
Now don’t think I’m making fun of people who organize such stuff – I applaud their efforts and skills to maneuver a big event such as those. It’s just that many people are so hooked on that mindset that they forget the value of the small things they do.
Your small efforts matter to God.
Yes, they do! That time when you listened to someone’s problems and grieved alongside them, that time you blocked out your schedule for the whole day just to encourage and lift somebody who has been depressed down, that little things you’re doing to slowly put a habitual sin out of your system, and those countless times that you’ve done something good for someone, hey, God’s proud of you!
God told Zechariah not to despise the small things, and that’s true. If God won’t despise the small things you do for the Kingdom, what right does anyone have to?
When Jesus fed the five thousand, it didn’t start with grandiose caravans of royal kings bringing the most expensive bread and their princes with the finest wine, it started from a kid and his five loaves and two fish. It was all that he had, yes, it was not that grand, yet he still gave it up and let Jesus do his thing. Jesus did not say, “Your loaves do not have sesame seeds on it, neither does your fish come from the exquisite waters of the Caribbean, of which I have majestically created”, He knew that that was what the kid had and cheerfully gave, and He was okay with it.
It does, really.
Sometimes we try to do something and then we try to assess our selves if we could ever do it and pull it off with aplomb, but then we scratch our heads because we can’t do it like that.
Why don’t we start small?
From the mere dust of the ground God formed the first Adam, and from a mere carpenter and an ordinary teenage girl God put the Messiah.
Loved one, God is proud of your small efforts for the Kingdom. He never looks at as if it were trash, but then He holds it on His palm as if it were a costly jewel.
So today, even if you only did one little teeny-weeny good act towards others, rejoice! Your efforts will never be in vain, because Jesus values it and continues to be proud of his little kiddo (which is you), and He loves you and the efforts that you do for the least of these.
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