Today I responded to Sam Rainer, a local pastor, author and blogger for Outreach Magazine, on twitter. I don't often do that but I wanted to speak to his comment with a very specific thought. Now I need to preface my thought with the fact that I can't read Sam's mind and he may have very different ideas of what these words meant. I'm not judging him or his motives. More than anything these words are an opportunity to share an idea that has been growing in my heart.
Here is Sam's tweet and then my response:
SamRainer: Meeting with our long-range planning committee. Since God is controlling our future, we're planning for big things.
Generousmind: @SamRainer: What if God has small things planned instead? God doesn't always use our metrics for success!
Here is my thought: Is it possible that the God who loves us has small things for us to do rather than big things? In our culture we tend to value the big and set the small things aside. But as I have been working with churches on discipleship models I am realizing something pretty amazing - the small things really count!
What do I mean? When you tweak a small thing, big things can result. They may not look like big things to the world but they are big in the lives of those who are being transformed in Christ. For instance. You might modify an event ever so slightly to include prayer in an authentic and incarnational way. It might only be 10 minutes of the event but it might change the whole dynamic of your evening!
I guess that is the main issue. Becoming more like Christ seldom looks big or impressive. Usually it looks unimportant and humble. But in God's economy it is all that matters.
So Sam, I am so glad you are planning ahead and that you are expecting big things from God. I just pray that if God sends small things you will be just as grateful. I'm sure you will!
Here is Sam's tweet and then my response:
SamRainer: Meeting with our long-range planning committee. Since God is controlling our future, we're planning for big things.
Generousmind: @SamRainer: What if God has small things planned instead? God doesn't always use our metrics for success!
Here is my thought: Is it possible that the God who loves us has small things for us to do rather than big things? In our culture we tend to value the big and set the small things aside. But as I have been working with churches on discipleship models I am realizing something pretty amazing - the small things really count!
What do I mean? When you tweak a small thing, big things can result. They may not look like big things to the world but they are big in the lives of those who are being transformed in Christ. For instance. You might modify an event ever so slightly to include prayer in an authentic and incarnational way. It might only be 10 minutes of the event but it might change the whole dynamic of your evening!
I guess that is the main issue. Becoming more like Christ seldom looks big or impressive. Usually it looks unimportant and humble. But in God's economy it is all that matters.
So Sam, I am so glad you are planning ahead and that you are expecting big things from God. I just pray that if God sends small things you will be just as grateful. I'm sure you will!
Comments
Thanks for your excellent post about "the small things" - my heart-beat resonates with your thoughts. Am putting together some notes on "The Small Things" for future sharing. Thus some of your content will be helpful too.
Be grateful if I can use quotes on our generosity-alive site, if that's ok with you.
Am just sending off your link to a friend who drafts a blog called "Thinkitthru". Hope he will become a visitor to Generous Mind also.
Warm regards,
Global Nomad
http://www.generosity-alive.org
Thanks for the input. I would love to see what you will write and share it with our readers. Please feel free to quote from here or share some of the post copy as long as you attribute.
Blessings as you strive to be generous with your ideas!
Jon and Mindy