Little Things

"His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Mat 25:21)

This verse is from the well-known parable of the talents (Mat 25:14-30). There are several important lessons from this short parable. One that we tend to forget is that much of what we do is about little things.

The world has a tendency to concentrate on the big things. Every year there are lists put out about who has the most money, which is the biggest company, who won the contest, who got the big awards, etc. Big, big, big - that's what is usually considered a sign of importance.

As a result many well-meaning Christians think that a big church, or a big crusade, or a large number of converts, or - well any big number of any numbers of things - is a sign of importance. Along with that is the tendency to think that if you are not given some great gift, or working some big work of ministry, that you can slack off or put off or just doze off. After all, it's just a little thing, a one-talent thing, so what difference does it make.

Jesus doesn't do it that way. He starts us out small with little tests of faith. If we go out and make huge leaps of faith right off the bat, we most likely will fail. It's the little things that teach us how to be faithful. Those little things may be overlooked because they don't seem to have all that much of an impact. But, they do.

A kind word here, a smile there, a word of encouragement to someone who is down, a small gift to someone in need, are just as important as preaching to thousands. Taking care of the little things that need to be done is just as important to your loved ones as doing some grand, amazing, BIG thing.

When we are faithful with those little tasks, then the Master comes and says, "Here is a big task for you."

The two things to remember are: don't slack off, but be faithful in little things, and, don't think you have to be doing big things to make a significant impact.

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Mat 25:40)