Sometimes it can be awfully easy to feel like our lives are insignificant. Most of our days are occupied with routine actions that are the very definition of mundane. The larger world around us takes no notice of us, no one has ever heard of us. We can feel like we have little impact on much of anything. If we reflect on the smallness and the routine nature of so much of our lives it is easy to get to the place where we wonder “what’s the point? Nothing I do really matters.” For me, I can easily find myself thinking, “Preach another sermon, come up with some questions for Facebook, write another blog, lead another Bible study, so what? Who really cares?” Recently I was editing the text of my most recent sermon so it could be posted on our church web site and the thought that this was totally futile kept plaguing me. “No one’s going to take time to read this. Why am I bothering to edit this so it can be posted?” Then when you throw in doing the routine things like paying the bills yet again, having an appointment with the eye doctor this week and the dentist next week, oh, and I need to plan for the oil change for the car, it all can seem awfully humdrum.
The simple truth is that much of life consists of repeating seemingly unimportant but necessary actions. They must be done, but no one ever notices. When we get focused on the dulling routine and the insignificance of it all we can easily grow discouraged or depressed. This can be especially true when we reflect on the fact that even our most important or significant acts most of the time don’t really amount to much in the world’s estimation. We compare our little “works” with the things that some other people do. Maybe we look at the great notice given to some famous athlete, or the astounding ministry of some Christian leader who impacts thousands of people, or the money given by some philanthropist and think, “my things don’t matter at all. It’s all just too small.” Can anything help us avoid that?
The simple truth is that much of life consists of repeating seemingly unimportant but necessary actions. They must be done, but no one ever notices. When we get focused on the dulling routine and the insignificance of it all we can easily grow discouraged or depressed. This can be especially true when we reflect on the fact that even our most important or significant acts most of the time don’t really amount to much in the world’s estimation. We compare our little “works” with the things that some other people do. Maybe we look at the great notice given to some famous athlete, or the astounding ministry of some Christian leader who impacts thousands of people, or the money given by some philanthropist and think, “my things don’t matter at all. It’s all just too small.” Can anything help us avoid that?
It is helpful to take note of some of the things God said in his word. In Mark 12 after watching a number of people give large sums of money at the temple in Jerusalem Jesus watched on impoverished widow give a couple of tiny coins, the equivalent of her putting her two cents. In verse 43 he said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more in the treasury than all the others.” She gave all she had, and Jesus said that was what mattered. God doesn’t desire that we do “big” things. What do we do that is big to him? He doesn’t “need” anything from us. What he desires is that we would do what that widow did. Give our all. Writer Caleb Breakey says, “Nothing is small to God when it’s done in service to him.”
We can give our little contribution, we can pray, we can do some act of service and love for another, no matter how small or large in the eyes of the world and know that when we do it for Jesus with all our heart he says, “This person has given more than all the others.”
We can give our little contribution, we can pray, we can do some act of service and love for another, no matter how small or large in the eyes of the world and know that when we do it for Jesus with all our heart he says, “This person has given more than all the others.”
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