Small Things

I think sometimes we approach life as if we have to achieve something extraordinary in order to matter—both as a person and as a Christian. Degrees, positions, climbing the ladder become the goal. Even in the church we may feel immense pressure to perform—you aren’t praying enough, reading the Bible enough, sharing the gospel enough... And yet God loves little things.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field... The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened” (Matt. 13:31-33).

It’s okay to be small, and to do small things. It is God’s work through small, broken, weak people that shows His power and glory in the end (2 Cor. 12:10). In the ESV Women’s Study Bible, the commentary on Zech. 4:10 notes “God’s work may start in small ways, yet it will reach a glorious conclusion.” God’s eternal plan doesn’t depend on us being successful in achieving great ambitions. He only asks that we be faithful.

A Quiet Mind to Suffer With, by John Andrew Bryant, about his lifelong struggle with mental illness and unwanted thoughts. He notes:

“Holiness was ordinary things set aside for God by trust in Him, a holy life was an ordinary life with ordinary things that have been offered to Christ... And this ordinary life I have, and you have, can be offered to Christ and become sacred in that way. Not extraordinary but sacred.”

Like Bryant, I’ve had this underlying assumption that if I could just learn the right answers, think the right thoughts, and rationalize my way to being “fixed,” then I could really be useful to God and achieve whatever great acts He has in store for me. Some part of me feels as though I’m just biding my time, waiting for “real” life to start. In one sense that is true, because we are all awaiting that day when all of creation is made perfect and full of joy. But that doesn’t negate the value of the little things we do day in and day out, offered to God and therefore sacred. I’ve reached middle age and haven’t done anything extraordinary with my life by human standards. But I hope I’ve been faithful in small things more often than not.

We may be inclined to judge ourselves and others by what we can see, by some arbitrary standard of visible faith. We don’t know what battles each person is facing within, and we often can’t even understand our own lives very well. Bryant uses the language of intention—is our heart’s desire to love and serve God in whatever ways we can? If so, it doesn’t matter whether our accomplishments are large or small. The prayers of the bedridden are just as necessary as the evangelism of the missionary. The meals served by the housewife are as valuable as the banquet hosted by the soup kitchen. Bandaging a child’s knee is as important as brain surgery. Little things done with love and a desire to serve God are still successes in His eyes.

“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

He Leadeth Me

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea of God’s calling on our lives and how He leads us. It seems to me that there may be a lot of misconceptions in the minds of Christians, due to lack of teaching or wrong teaching on the subject. (James 1:5-8 is often misused in this regard.) Perhaps you can identify with some of these misguided thoughts:

• If you pray about it, God will give you clear directions.
• Good Christians can always know what God intends for them to do.
• If you don’t know what to do, it’s your own lack of faith.
• When God closes a door, He opens a window.

Looking back over my own journey, I can get discouraged by thinking that I’ve made wrong decisions that God has to keep fixing. And if I fall into the comparison trap, it looks like the really “spiritual people” have no doubts about the road ahead. That’s why I found great encouragement in this quote from a sermon by T.J. Tims:

“If we’re bouncing around, and we often are, it’s only the bumpers of divine sovereignty, sort of directing our course, making our lives fruitful. And I know that when I say that, some of us, we feel as if we’ve gone irreparably off course in our lives. Like there was this better version of our life that could have been, and here we are settling for like the third or fourth or fifth or hundredth tier down of the life that we could have had. But it cannot be true, because down beneath our derailments—the unavoidable ones and the avoidable ones—are the everlasting arms of God, working out all things for our good and for His glory. God’s out ahead of us preparing the way… We discover our destiny like this—by choosing… a God-glorifying heading and then walking that way… What do you want to do, for His glory? Head that way. And then, expect derailments— [Ephesians 2:10, ‘God prepared good works] that we should walk in them.’ …You choose a heading that you know would be pleasing to God, and then you receive the derailments as the will of God. And along the way you find yourself stumbling into fruitfulness that you did not anticipate. That’s what it looks like to be led by God.”

He goes on to point to the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 1:13 “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.” Paul literally went through shipwrecks, imprisonment, and beatings as he sought to follow God’s will. That would make anybody question whether they were on the right path.

Think about some of the other people in Scripture.

• Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going (Heb. 11:8).
• Joshua, after bragging to his brothers, ended up in a pit, slavery, and prison, before eventually being able to say “God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20).
• Moses went from the palace to the wilderness before he was ready to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Ex. 2:10, 15). When he did receive divine instruction in a burning bush, he tried to talk his way out of it (Ex. 3:11).
• After surviving a famine, Naomi lost her husband and sons. All she could think to do was go back to her home country, and Ruth decided to go with her. They had no idea God would use that decision to contribute to the lineage of the Messiah (Matt. 1:5).
• Jonah tried to run from God’s direct command and ended up in a fish (Jon. 1:17).
• John the Baptist seemed clear on his direction until he ended up in prison. Then he wondered if he’d been wrong all along (Matt. 11:3).

The vast majority of people in the Bible never heard a direct command from God telling them where to go and what to do. They simply went through their lives doing the next thing that was before them. And in ancient culture there just weren’t that many options. There were few career paths, and most people stayed in one community for life.

Today, we have so many options that we don’t even know how to choose. We think it would be nice if God handed each of us a manuscript and said “Here’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.” Then we could feel confident that we were on the right path. Instead, we are meant to just keep walking and making the best decisions we can with the information we have, and trust that God will derail our plans if He chooses to. It takes a lot more faith to live this way than it would to just follow an instruction book.

If I had planned the path to get to where I am now, I would have made it a much straighter road. The things I thought I was going to do didn’t pan out, and I had to choose the next step while walking in the dark. God used both positive and negative experiences to change my course (probably more of the negative ones). I never had any revelation that “Aha, that’s where God is taking me!” But looking back I can see how God used me in different ways in each of the many segments of the path. And God will use me in whatever direction my future path may go (though I’m not planning any changes at this point). He already knows our paths and is present with us at each step of the way, no matter how convoluted the road may seem (see Psalm 139).

“The Lord is my shepherd… He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (Ps. 23:1, 3-4a).

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© 2022 Dawn Rutan text and image. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Fruitful in Affliction

Most Christians know the basics of Joseph’s story in the second half of Genesis—favored by his father; sold into slavery by his brothers; jailed because of false allegations; and eventually freed and raised to second in command in Egypt. In the years leading up to the famine throughout the land, we learn that Joseph and his wife had two sons.

“Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.’ The name of the second he called Ephraim, ‘For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction’” (Gen. 41:51-52).

It seems that Joseph had a perspective that many of us could learn from. He gave God the glory for the blessings he had received while at the same time recognizing that difficult times are part of God’s purposes for us. We see this reiterated in Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Somehow, I can’t imagine Joseph ever being called a “desperate man,” even when he was sitting in jail for no good reason. Throughout it all, he remained faithful and obedient to God. “The keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners… because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed” (Gen. 39:22-23). It wasn’t just that God worked through Joseph, but that Joseph was consciously dwelling in God’s presence and doing His will.

Often when we face affliction, we may think that God has left us and we just have to wait and hope for His return. But Joseph is a reminder that God is still present and working, and our job is to be faithfully obedient.

We all encounter difficulties and suffering of various kinds as we live in this broken world. We are all literally living in the land of our affliction until Jesus returns to make all things right and to recreate the world in perfection. The question is whether our hardship points us to God or draws us away from Him. Are we bearing fruit in this land or are we drying up just hoping for something to change?

Perhaps we need to remember what God considers fruitful living, since most of us won’t be involved in saving our nation from famine. Fruitfulness is:

• Repenting of sin and pursuing sanctification. “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt. 3:8). “The fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Rom. 6:22).
• Speaking words that build others up in faith and love. “The tree is known by its fruit… The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good… I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:33, 35-37).
• Obeying what we know to be true in Scripture. “Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing… By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples… If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love… This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:5, 8, 10, 12)
• Pursuing the good works set before us. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). “Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true” (Eph. 5:8-9).

That might look like: raising your children in a Gospel-centered home; working to the best of your ability in your career; trusting God to provide when you have needs; praying for wisdom in trying times; pointing others to Christ as your strength in suffering, etc. As I mentioned in my last post, the fruit of the Spirit looks a little different in each person’s life. Rather than getting discouraged because “I’m not doing anything outstanding,” we should simply ask, “Am I endeavoring, by God’s grace, to do all that I believe God has set before me at this particular time?” God asks nothing more than that.

“Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan text and picture. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

It happens all too frequently—a well-known Christian author and speaker is revealed to have serious issues with integrity, pride, and sexual sin. It’s not a new narrative. King David, the “man after God’s own heart,” is remembered for conquering Goliath but falling for Bathsheba. King Solomon, the “wisest man,” is known for his hundreds of wives and concubines. If they can’t get it right, who can? (And if Christian leaders have this much trouble, I hate to think what non-Christian leaders are doing behind closed doors.)

Back in 2015 Christianity Today published an article with the somewhat tongue-in-cheek title “Pastor Exposed as Faithful to Wife of 17 Years.” Thousands of faithful pastors and leaders rarely make the headlines. It only takes one bad choice to ruin a reputation. Our culture of celebrity Christianity is a problem. Although many people rise to prominence for the good things they have said and done, few can stand up to the long-term public scrutiny of every word and action. And when they fail, it blackens the reputation of the whole Church.

Similar things happened in Ezekiel’s day and God spoke His judgment against them—

“Ah, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought… Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves” (Ezek. 34:2-4, 10).

The day will come when all of us will face the judgment of God. Pastors also will have to give an account for how they shepherd the flock (Heb. 13:17), whether their flock is twenty souls or many thousands. Some may be surprised to see much of their work destroyed by the fire of judgment. “If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15).

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. By all means, go ahead and give them gifts and words of encouragement, but perhaps the most important thing we need to do for our pastors is to pray for them all year round. Pray for God to protect them from the temptations of pride, self-sufficiency, envy, lust, etc. Pray for them to be filled with God’s wisdom in all their decisions and for wise counselors to surround them. Pray for all the aspects of their ministry—sermon preparation, preaching, teaching, counseling, etc. As someone shared on Facebook, don’t put your pastor on a pedestal, but lift him up in prayer.

“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16).

“Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things” (Heb. 13:18).

 

© 2020 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Faithful Endurance

 The Apostle Paul made an interesting comment in his second letter to Timothy:

“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me” (2 Tim. 3:10-11 ESV).

What events was he referring to in these three cities?

Antioch- “But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him…[They] stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district” (Acts 13:45, 50).

Iconium- “When an attempt was made… to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled” (Acts 14:5-6).

Lystra- “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead” (Acts 14:19).

Being stoned and thought dead is extreme persecution, and yet Paul’s reflection is that “from them all the Lord rescued me.” It wasn’t just that Paul survived those events, but that he knew his life was always in God’s hand. “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). As he wrote to the Romans, “I am sure that neither death nor life… will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).

We in the western church often have a rather one-dimensional understanding of rescue. Many church prayer meetings focus almost exclusively on God’s deliverance from any kind of suffering, rather than through suffering. We assume that God will receive more glory by healing and delivering us than He would by enabling us to be faithful witnesses in sickness, persecution, and death. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

“But as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger” (2 Cor. 6:4-5).

He says that his reputation as God’s representative is illustrated by enduring hardship, not by being protected from it. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world have a much more robust theology of suffering because they endure it every day. We’ve been pampered by our culture for a while, but that is not going to last. More Christians are going to suffer in one way or another, and we need to endure as faithful witnesses through whatever trials God allows to come our way.

Lord, keep us faithful to You as You have been faithful to us in and through every circumstance.

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (2 Cor. 4:8-10).

© 2020 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Small Drops

Christian news often focuses on megachurches and crusades, and there is often talk about desiring a great revival in our land. There’s nothing wrong with those things in themselves. However, I wonder if we’re overlooking the small things that God likes to use. Jesus used a boy’s small lunch (John 6:9) and He commended the widow’s small offering (Mark 12:42). He reminded His disciples that the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed or a little leaven in the dough (Matthew 13:31-33).

Half of churches have 100 attendees or fewer, and 90% have 350 or fewer (source). Most of the work of preaching, teaching, and discipling happens on the small scale—in small churches, small groups, and one-on-one—and yet churches and denominations often seem obsessed with “bigger and better.”

Moses said “May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb” (Deuteronomy 32:2 ESV). Charles Spurgeon commented on this verse:

“Let us try to be a little useful if we cannot reach to great things. The small rain is a great blessing. Let us try to be useful in little things. Let us look after tender herbs; let us try to bring boys and girls to Jesus” (Following Christ, ch. 15).

God has let history unfold at His own pace, and we’re more than two millennia past the birth of Christ. “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:8-9). It may seem slow to us, but God is not in a hurry to bring everything to completion. He may bring a great flood of conversions or it may be a slow trickle. It is not up to us to try to orchestrate a grand finale. He simply calls us to be faithful to the task at hand.

We sometimes start to think of ourselves too highly. “I must share the gospel with one new person every week… My church must have 10% higher attendance by the end of this year… We must plant five new churches in this city in five years…” Some of us may be trying to function as if we have five talents when God has only given us one (Matthew 25:14-30). And some of us may be trying to function in roles that we just aren’t gifted for (Romans 12:3-8). None of us alone can do everything, and that’s why God placed us within the Body. If each member does their part, God will provide the harvest in His own good time.

“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much” (Matthew 25:21b).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Called by God

Joseph told his brothers, “So it was not you who sent me here but God...” (Genesis 45:8 ESV). Mordecai told Esther, “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

These few examples from Scripture point to a couple truths. Although some people, such as Jeremiah, receive a clear calling from God for a specific mission, most of us are called to follow God in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves. We tend to think of “calling” as a directive to pursue a career in ministry, but God is calling each of us to be ministers of His love and grace in whatever career we pursue.

For Joseph, Esther, Jeremiah, and many others in Scripture, the calling to do something spectacular was only fulfilled because they were faithfully seeking God in the normal course of life. Service to God was part of life, not a separate, unique vocation. God uses those who are faithful in the small things. We can’t expect to receive a divine word of commissioning if we aren’t committed to doing the tasks that are close at hand. And Scripture is pretty clear about the things we are to be doing day by day: loving others, making disciples, serving the church, worshiping together, praying for others, etc.

In addition, these people were called by God for an important purpose, but they did not fully understand that calling until troubled times hit. Joseph went through slavery and imprisonment before he had the opportunity to save his family and thereby ensure the future of Israel. Esther faced the potential decimation of the Jews before she really knew why she was in the palace. Jeremiah learned his calling up front, but he had the unpleasant job of calling Judah to repentance as captivity was coming. In the process he endured death threats and various other difficulties. God’s calling is not to a life of ease but to a life of purpose. And given the fallen nature of our world, fulfilling God’s purpose requires us to walk through suffering, not away from it. It is human nature to want to seek out comfort and pleasure, but that is not where God is doing most of His work. We seem to be easily deterred from obeying God’s calling whenever it is inconvenient, uncomfortable, or potentially dangerous to our lives, careers, or reputations.

Everybody likes the first half of Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” However, we can’t take that verse out of the context of the rest of the chapter, which talks about setting the mind on the things of the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the body, suffering with Christ, enduring the corruption of the world, tribulation, distress, persecution, etc. Being called to the purpose of God takes place in the context of the challenges of life in a fallen world. It is through the suffering of this life that we are conformed to the image of Christ “in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (8:17).

We are all called to follow God, but that calling is going to look different for each of us because each life is unique. Whether spectacular or mundane, public or private, upper class or third world, may we be found faithful to Him day by day.

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.