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GIVEIf you don’t think that small things can and do make a difference, consider that one of the most powerful forces is the splitting of the smallest thing. In the splitting of the atom, a succession of explosions can be set off to cause the biggest explosion the world has ever known.
I have known and watched successful people from every walk of life. They all have at least one thing in common. The things some people view as trivial, they view as meaningful. The non-essentials seem to be essentials. We can learn from that viewpoint as Christians. Because with God there are no little churches. There are no little people. There are no little tasks.
In doing the little things one becomes Christlike. You must remember that Jesus never pastored a large church. He was never a president, governor or mayor. He took time for little children. He told simple stories about a flower, a bird, a lost coin, and a boy who ran way from home. His Father and our Father takes note of a bird that falls. He clothes the lilies of the field. He is even interested in each hair on our heads. Hence, if we would be Christlike, we too must be willing to do the small things.
In Sunday’s services I talked about reading your bible and prayer. I often talk about the importance of a daily quiet time. Those small, daily things can have a big cumulative effect if we do them consistently. Here is what I mean by consistency.
One of the New Year’s resolutions I hear every year is the desire on the part of one or both parents to have dinner with the family every night. They want that time with their family to communicate, to share, to catch up with what is happening in their respective lives. That is a worthwhile goal to be sure. However, there is no real value in having one dinner and checking off that resolution. The real value comes from doing it day after day after day. The channels of communication will be restored as will trust because your family will know that you are committed to a daily dinner with them. There is real value in cumulative deposits of your time in having dinner. Same thing with exercise. If you exercise one day you will receive no benefit. But if you make daily deposits of exercise day after day you will see the cumulative effects.
The same is true of reading your Bible, quiet time and prayer. Every time you read the Bible, you make small deposits to your spiritual bank account. These add up, because God gives compound interest. If you make daily deposits of time in those areas over a period of time you will see the cumulative effects in your relationship with God. If you do those things once every six months you will not see the same benefits. Conversely, there is also a cumulative effect in neglect. If we do not have a daily quiet time or read our Bible, God may seem distant at a time you need Him most.
So, if you are going to start with the small things we talked about in 2015, I encourage you to be committed and make those daily deposits of time that are necessary to reap the full benefits out of these small things.
These little things will make a big difference. And someday they will give you the character of Jesus.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why is it so easy to neglect the small things in life?
2. In what areas have you seen the cumulative effects of daily deposits of time? In what areas have you observed the cumulative effects of neglect?
3. Can you make up for lost time in these areas?
4. Pray about and identify the one area that you can begin doing consistently by making daily deposits of time.