Yesterday my husband and I did a quick evaluation of the stuff we do. Will it last for eternity? Or is it not quite that important? We finally acknowledged that we really don’t know for sure how God uses our words and actions. A little thing might seem unimportant to us, but He is able to use it in the life of someone else.
It goes both ways. I can remember one night when I was in my teens and all dressed up for some event. I was prancing around the house in high heels, thinking I was so special. Suddenly I tripped and went sprawling. Immediately humbled, I looked to see what tripped me and found a small piece of straw on the floor.
God can use small things. Once Jesus was speaking to the crowds and lunch time rolled around. He told the disciples to feed the multitude, but they quickly calculated the cost and came up empty. All they had was a donation of five barley loaves and two small fish.
Mark 6 says, “And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.”
This is amazing. It’s even amazing that out of that many people, only one person thought to bring lunch! Jesus did describe them as being “like sheep without a shepherd” yet even sheep think about their stomachs. Interesting also is that this incident is recorded in all four gospels, yet only John tells that a “lad” offered the fish, a little boy.
Sermons have been preached about how we should not worry about the size of our ministry, or the seeming insignificance of what we do, or who we are. The reason is that the verb tense in this passage indicates that the bread multiplied in Jesus’ hands. Who we are and what we do is not as vital as what Jesus does with what we offer Him. Knowing this throws me into an attitude of trust.
It also takes me back to that piece of straw. If, fifty years later, I still remember a small thing that spoke to my heart (I was not even a Christian at that time), how much more can Jesus use things that I say or do, even if they seem totally insignificant to me?
The Apostle Paul said that he did not judge himself, “But He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.”
This is a good thought to end the previous year and begin a new one. Be faithful to live as Jesus wants me to live, and if what I do seems very ordinary, remember that He can make it into something extraordinary. It isn’t who I am or what I do that is important—it is what happens when Jesus puts His hands to it.
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