An Ugly Word: Endure
Experts tell us “success breeds success.” I’m not here to argue the merits of that statement. However, I will say success is not the ONLY factor that breeds success, in fact, it’s pretty low on the scale of things needed to be successful. Don’t get me wrong, it certainly feels good to do something right and find victory in the midst of it. “Winning” is a great motivator. However, it’s rare indeed to find yourself on that top step hoisting the winner’s trophy when you’ve never been to a single practice or lifted a single weight. Champions are born out of adversity and opposition, not success. Success can fuel the journey, but opposition is what gives us the strength, maturity, and hope to stay the course.
That’s what it’s all about after all – staying the course. Not giving up. Finishing the race. We know the cliche statements like, “it’s always darkest before the dawn”, but it’s the truth of the matter. There can be no daybreak without the darkness of night. We have to walk through those moments and seasons of opposition and darkness and the pain associated with them to gain the strength needed to finish well.
Our family’s journey has been one full of adversity, opposition, pain, joy, peace, and a level of success that may not be fully measured this side of eternity. On that journey we’ve made countless mistakes and poor decisions. We’ve had difficulties in marriage, broken relationships and tragic loss. Yet, we’re still standing because we refuse to quit. Oh, don’t get me wrong, we’ve wanted to – many, many times. Our fingers have hovered over the “I’m done” button on more occasions than I care to count. In everything, we’ve found a way to stay the course because our strength to do so has been developed in the valleys, not on the mountain top.
One of the first things that we have to do in developing a lifestyle of endurance, is to learn to value the “little things.”
My earthly father is a man of few words, but when he has something to say, you should really listen. As a young man, full of himself and ready for his independence, I was determined to strike out on my own, get away from home and gain some freedom. My parents graciously, even though they were very concerned, let me go – releasing me into the hands of the Lord. I remember the day before I was to leave for college, my dad, the man of few words, pulled me aside to tell me he loved me and he was proud of me – not because of what I’d done or accomplished, but because of who I am – his son. Then he told me this, and I’ve never forgotten it: “In life, son, there are only two things that you need to know. First, don’t sweat the small stuff. Second, everything is small stuff.”
I’ve tried to remember those words every time something “big” happened in my life that felt overwhelming. I remember thinking about that as I stood in front of my daughter’s coffin as it was held above her grave. We had just finished the graveside service and everyone gave Michelle and I space to have a few last minutes with our daughter. “How can this be a ‘small’ thing?” I thought. “How can I reconcile the loss of my twenty year old daughter to what my father was saying to me more than 30 years earlier?”
We tend to measure the size and significance of something through the lens of how it impacts us on this side of eternity. The reality of the situation is that when eternity is brought into the equation, everything is small. This life is just a puff of air in light of eternity.
Everything truly is small, but just because it’s small doesn’t mean it has no value.
In fact, the way we handle the “small” things will determine how we handle things that the world may deem as big. Just because it’s small doesn’t mean it’s insignificant. Sometimes the smallest things can hold the greatest value. That being said, we can’t value one “small” thing over another “small” thing and think that God is going to show us favor as good stewards.
Being a good steward and attracting the favor of the Holy Spirit begins with small things. In fact, it begins with everything we lay our hands to do.
Here’s the rub, the enemy understands, probably better than we do, the importance of “small things”. Look at His conversation with Eve in the Garden of Eden. He asks her, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Genesis 3:1b NKJV
His cunning question was designed to make light of God’s command. This is one of Satan’s primary attacks against God’s creation, to make obedience seem insignificant, small. If he can deceive us in the seemingly small things, or make things seem less important than they really are, then he can divert God’s plans and purposes for our lives. This is why it is so important to understand that obedience is obedience. Being obedient in one area is not any more important to God than another area.
In fact, I would say that if God doesn’t deem your obedience, in the areas that you consider insignificant, as faithful, He will never be able to trust you in those things that you consider great.
Let’s look at a popular story that Jesus tells to His followers. In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus gives a parable about a ruler and his servants. The ruler was preparing for a long journey, and needed his servants to care for a certain amount of money. It’s obvious that he’s testing them to see their value to him in the future. So, he gives each of them an amount to care for with specific instructions to grow his investment.
There were three servants mentioned and he gives a different amount to each one. He gives five talents to the first, two to the second and one talent to the third. It says that he gave based on each servant’s abilities. In other words, the ruler knew what each servant was capable of. The first two servants invested their talents and received double back. The third servant buried his one talent for fear of losing what he had. To make a long story short, the first two servants were promoted to greater things for their faithfulness with the little that he had given them. The third was cast out of the presence of the master for failing to do what was required of him.
None of these servants was given much. Their master wanted to measure their faithfulness in the little things, so that he could determine if they were ready for greater things.
It is important in the Kingdom of God that we give equal significance to ALL things that the Lord is putting in our hands because the little things will determine the greater things.
We must be equally concerned about the seemingly “small” temptations, obstacles and opposition that come against us. The third servant didn’t think that the return on the investment was as significant as losing the investment altogether. He considered the return on investment a small thing compared to losing it all, so he held onto the capital that he was instructed to invest. It was fear led him there.
There are all kinds of reasons for ignoring the little things in our lives, and fear is at the root of most of them. Fear is a tactic of the enemy and is never a product of a healthy relationship with God. In fact, Timothy wrote, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV)
If we are experiencing fear, like the servant in Jesus’ parable, then we can know it is not from our heavenly Father. When we are in His presence, there is power, love and a sound mind (or a mind that has “self-control”). In other words, we are confident in who we are and we have the tools and resources necessary to do what God has called us to do – and that begins with the “little things.”
If left unattended because of fear, apathy, or any other reason that does not line up with what our Father has called us to do, those little things stack up to become big things. Those big things then wreck our lives and our relationship with the Father. Ignoring the little things delays our growth and our promotion or advancement, because we cannot be trusted.Before we can take the necessary steps to becoming people that overcome opposition, we have to become experts in the little things. It’s the first test of promotion in the Kingdom of God.
“This is the way to cultivate courage: First, by standing firm on some conscientious principle, some law of duty. Next, by being faithful to truth and right on small occasions and common events. Third, by trusting in God for help and power.”
James Freeman Clarke (19th Century Author and Theologian)
Peace.
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