Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Reward (09/27/04)
TITLE: Small Things By S M 10/02/04 |
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT SEND ARTICLE TO A FRIEND |
When God sent Jesus Christ into the world in human form, He laid the foundation for the house of God. Christ’s ministry, crucifixion and resurrection are the beginning foundation for this house. It is by no means the finished project.
Laying a foundation is the first, small step in construction. Anyone who has ever been involved in building a structure, even as an observer, can’t help but know that it is an important step. The greatest care must be taken with getting the foundation right. If the foundation is out of square or not level or not plumb, the structure built upon it will also be askew and unsound.
When God planned His house, He laid a sure foundation. His house is built upon the Rock of Jesus. When He laid that “stone,” He removed the “iniquity of that land in one day.” In a single day, with a single act of compassion, God obliterated our sin, disobedience, and willfulness, conquered death (both physical and spiritual), and washed us clean and pure in the spilled blood of Jesus of Nazareth. This gift is free to all who genuinely seek to return to God and be restored to His will.
Yet, God calls the laying of this foundation, of this stone, a “small thing.” We can only guess at what a “great thing” the completed House shall be, since God alone holds the blueprints. These are blueprints that He drafted from His own vision. While He took the greatest care to begin with a solid, perfect foundation, this is but the glorious beginning of a fantastic and marvelous project. When God completes the building of His house, the laying of its foundation will indeed appear to be a “small thing.” Yet, without this “small thing,” the rest would be impossible. That is why no one will despise the “day of small things.” It is the small things that make the great things possible.
It is a “small thing” to walk one step, to write one word or one page; but from the first step, a long journey is made; from the first word, a book is written. It is a “small thing” to give a warm winter coat, a cup of fresh water, a sack of nourishing food, a kind word to those without. But from such acts of kindness, Christ’s love is shared generously with all. These are the bricks. Jesus Christ is the mortar and the foundation and the bricks. We are among His guild of bricklayers. It is a “small thing” to slather on mortar and lay on a brick. Yet, brick by brick, God’s House shall be built, “his hands shall also finish it,” and its magnificence, glory and perfection shall exceed our imaginations and eclipse the joy and thanksgiving we feel over the laying of its foundation.
We’ve got plenty of bricks. The stockpile never runs low. Today, let’s load up our wheelbarrows and lay on a few bricks of kindness. We’ll find our rewards in the doing, at the end of the day, and when the House is finally complete. Today, we’ll lay a brick here and a brick there. It’s a small enough thing to do.