Content with Small for the Sake of the Great

Small steps of faith are the long pry bar that moves mountains of change. Jesus said this - Matt. 17:20: “. . . if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move” . . . and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” But we look past small steps, often only content with big steps. We are prone to believe that only by taking big steps of faith can I make big steps of change. We know what Jesus said, but we have trouble believing him.

It is not wrong to desire big strides. But what is decisive in Matthew 17:20 (or 13:31, where the kingdom is said to be like a mustard seed)? Just turn a page or two, Matthew 19:26: “With man [salvation, and all that goes with it] is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

What matters is not the strength of your faith, but the strength of the object of your faith. Since God is strong, and big, and able to do all you need, just a small turn of the rudder of faith can move the most massive of sin-broken ships. For example: you may be dry in your faith. You may feel like the Word just bounces off when you read it. And the big screen is there, inviting you to believe, after a long day, that TV will give as much good as God.

TV can keep us up too late, which results in tiredness the next day, which results in more openness to temptation, and makes it harder to walk in the promises of God, which then makes life harder, which we then seek relief from in TV (or name another distraction from God), which dulls our receptivity to God’s Word . . . How to exit the cycle?

Simple faith: “Jesus will give me more pleasure than TV.” I can’t see it right now, because I like my TV right now. But I will believe, against my present feeling of “like” of TV, that God will meet me with something better in the morning than what TV could give now. Some results: you go to bed earlier, get up earlier, and experience a more unhurried, less-distracted time with the Lord. Your soul is fed with deeper pleasures. You are stronger. A “consequence” is that you walk through your day changing - not from trying harder, but from a small turn of the rudder of faith, from TV to Jesus. The big stuff - joy, contentment - will follow.