God is impressed with even the smallest amounts of faith; take the mustard seed for example. Matthew 17:20 says, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” God takes something miniscule and tells how it can be used for the greater good of the Kingdom of God.
Sometimes, Christians are obsessed with going bigger and better for God that they tend to miss out on the small things that God is doing. It’s certainly not bad to have goals and to be pursuing the desires God has put on your heart, but it seems that too many ordinary days pass us by.
God tells us a different story. In Luke chapter 21:1-4, the Bible says, “As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
The parable of the women who gave all her money is the prime example of how “a little” can look exactly like what it does to the world, a little. But to God, her sacrifice was enormous. God was intensely pleased by the outpouring of her “small” gesture in His namesake. In the same way, some of the things we do everyday are often gone unnoticed by Christians and by ourselves.
Did the poor woman grow to be the pastor of a large church? Did she lead worship in a world-renowned band? Did she ever lead anyone to Christ? Did she ever offer anything to God again? We don’t know, but from what we do know, God was more impressed by her offering, her sacrifice, than by the sacrifices of others. Perhaps it was her literal poverty, but could it have been her poverty of spirit that made God smile so widely?
Sure, maybe the woman in the story was disobedient with her finances, which left her destitute. Did God reprimand her in the moment of her offering on how he generally believes “obedience is better than sacrifice”? (1 Samuel 15:22) No, he was simple impressed, that perhaps even in her disobedience she could have the courage to act in a way that pleases the Lord.
Too many times we share a Westernized dream of doing something BIG for God, yet the woman in the parable most likely gave everything she had in the offering and went home to a place of trial and tribulation, one of daily stresses and hard times. Who knows if she ever truly understood the impression her gift made on Jesus himself that she would end up in the Bible as a parable being retold generation after generation; she may have worked happily the rest of her life simply knowing that God was pleased with her once or she may have even been shunned for her offering, leaving those she cared most about in an even more destitute place.
Cleaning baby bottoms, picking up a classroom full of leftover craft materials, matching socks, breaking a heart, buying drinks for someone, giving a complement, standing inside a church door for the first time in a long time, expressing an emotion in front of virtual strangers, asking for help … these are just a few examples of ordinary forms of greatness that may or may not come out of a place of poverty or of joy, that may or may not end in satisfaction or in rejection. These are the things God smiles at; these are the reasons he dances and sings over us with joy.
In the same way we smile when a small child remembers their manners, or acts out of graciousness or includes someone who isn’t cool, or who apologizes when it isn’t even their fault, so our Heavenly Father rejoices with such great admiration for his creation every time we “offer” something small.
Steven Curtis Chapman, in a newer song, writes: “Little stuff, big stuff, in between stuff, God sees everything the same. Let me remind you, it all matters just as long, as you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you, cause He made you to do, every little thing that you do, to bring a smile to His face, tell the story of grace with every move that you make, and every thing you do.”
So do every little and BIG thing (no matter how "small" it seems to the world) for the glory of God and rest assured he is smiling!
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