Menu
Doing something spectacular for God
Early in my walk of faith, I began a Bible study, to better understand this Jesus to whom I had given my heart. I had barely begun to plumb the depths of his heart when mine began to want to do something for him. And not just anything, but something meaningful, something big, something spectacular. After all, the Bible showed clearly all that he had given me by his sacrifice, he had given his best, he deserved my very best.
But it seemed my life circumstances prevented me at every turn.
After all, Patrick, our youngest, had yet to celebrate his first birthday. Dirty baby bottles, soiled diapers and stacks and stacks of miniature clothing surrounded me on every side. Oftentimes, I would look at the clock in horror, the entire day spent, Danny due to walk through the door and me still in my robe. If I couldn't even get that done, how was I ever going to do something spectacular for Jesus?
I lamented my plight to Sunny, my mentor and sister in the Lord. She shared her wisdom and encouraged me with the words that even "just" a clean kitchen floor was a glory to the Lord.
Ridiculous. A clean floor was nothing, albeit rare enough in those days with small children, always thirsty for another cup of Koolaid. Still, it was just a floor. How could that small act begin to repay him for the magnitude of the gift I had been given? I wanted to do something spectacular for the Lord. And day after day, I looked for that spectacular thing I could do.
Thus began a particularly unfruitful time in my life in the Spirit, a time when many an opportunity to serve went wanting.
It's a common tactic of the enemy of faith, appealing, as he so often does, to our arrogance. And arrogance it is, to adopt the attitude, even subconsciously, that if I can't do something spectacular, I won't do anything at all.
There is a serious flaw in that line of thinking. After all, we measure by different standards than those God uses. What is to us a small thing may indeed be a most valuable thing to him. A gift he can use that could come to mean everything to someone else -- a someone we may never even meet this side of eternity -- someone we may never meet at all, if we leave that one small thing undone.
Yes, the gift of God in Christ Jesus is enormous in scope, the blessings found in it deepening day-by-day and year-by-year, the full magnitude unseen until heaven's portal opens wide before us.
And we do well to desire to honor that gift with our service. It is a grave error to deem any service too small, whether that gift is a clean floor, sweet smelling babies, reliability on the job or a life spent preaching the Gospel in the deepest wilds of Africa.
What a testimony it would have been, to my worldly friends, to come into my kitchen in the midst of seeming chaos, and find an oasis instead of chaos. Yet I despised the opportunity to serve, because I deemed it too small a gift.
A cup of cold water. A coat against winter's harsh wind. A place at the table, no matter how meager the fare. A gentle smile, shimmering through shared tears. The lightest touch that says someone cares. Kind words instead of recrimination. Small enough gifts in our economy, hardly worth mentioning, these are pure gold in God's economy. Because, when the receiver remembers the kindness, these moments become a way for God to break through and reveal himself to a hurting soul.
Do not despise the small acts of service, each one an act of worship, each one an opportunity to honor God. And each one a gift he can use to impart the greatest gift of all to all.
"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:17 (NIV)
Things you won't see in heaven:
unopened gifts
Audio from KNGN 1360 AM: