Want to Do More with Your Life and Purpose? [Start Small]
“I feel like I should do more for God,” a friend recently shared. However, she already has a full-time job and ministry commitments. How can she do greater things when she barely has time to sleep?I felt her frustration because I’ve been there. For many years, I resented where God had me. My job wasn’t what I’d planned to do after graduation, and I didn’t feel effective or like I was making a difference.Slowly and painfully, I learned something that seems counter-intuitive: Our biggest influence is in small faithfulness now.
But what if we don’t have much to give?
Sometimes, the bank account may edge dangerously close to the red, or there isn’t a spare second in our calendar. But each of us has something unique to give.Remember the widow from Mark 12? What if she hadn’t given her two small coins because she felt too embarrassed or ashamed at how much other people were giving?
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Yet as Jesus points out, she actually gave more because she shared out of her poverty. That poverty can take many forms (financial, relational, or other). Jesus doesn’t demand a specific amount but instead asks us to do more with what we have.Generosity has nothing to do with a price tag and everything to do with the condition of our hearts.
Being faithful in little things prepares us for future opportunities.
One of my favorite parables that Jesus tells is the one about the talents. I’m not talking talent as in America’s Got Talent but in a New Testament unit of money. According to the New American Standard Bible, a talent equaled about fifteen years’ wages. Not exactly pocket change.In the story, a wealthy owner entrusts his talents to three servants to manage while he travels. They receive five, two, and one talents, respectively, “each according to his own ability” (Matthew 25:15 NKJV).When he returns, the two who invested wisely both receive the same praise. In other words, the amount of money they earned mattered less than the fact they both faithfully managed it. As a result, the master promotes them to greater responsibility. As for the one who did nothing with his talent, the master fires him to put his punishment nicely.Maybe your work or your schedule feels mundane and unimportant, but consistency right here right now makes all the difference. The truth is, we should do more with today's raw material instead of waste time on what-ifs. We’ll never experience the rewards of faithfulness tomorrow if we don’t practice its discipline today.