It’s the Small Things

“Since I can trust you with the small things, I will let you rule over ten of my cities.” ~ Jesus

It had started with a coin, in the parable the ruler, soon-to-be king had given individuals one coin to see what they would be able to accomplish for his kingdom. One took a chance, took on some risk, and was able to present back to his new king 10 coins. But this one half sentence, “since I can trust you with the small things”… It is something that has come to my  mind repeatedly over this past year.

Trust God with the small things, make sure he can trust ME with the small things, and what blessings will we see come out of it?

The other part of this parable has always slightly confused me. I’ve always had one of those, “I don’t really get this part but it’s in the Bible so one, it must be right and two, I’ll never understand all of it so move on” type of moments. “The king said, ‘Those who have will be given more, but those who do not have anything will have everything taken away from them.’” As a stand alone sentence, the second half seems to go against what we know of our God doesn’t it? But I guess I looked at it with new eyes this morning or something, the one who had his coin taken away was the one who had been given a gift, a chance to make or do something big, a chance to do something for the kingdom, the opportunity given to him by the KING HIMSELF. And what did he do? Nothing. A conscious, deliberate choice to do nothing. He is the one who had his one coin/chance taken away. The king didn’t walk around looking for the underdog, the little guy and then steal his stuff, steal what little he had, that he had worked so hard for.

No, that’s not our God. But he does entrust us with small pieces of his kingdom. And he can’t unleash the keys to everything good until we can prove ourselves worthy. But He also, like a good Daddy, doesn’t give us things we’re simply not ready for yet. If Prayse can’t get her own cup of lemonade to the table without dropping it, would we give her the entire pitcher to bring to the table?(She would try however!). If I can’t manage my own pipeline effectively and successfully, would I be successful with an entire division’s P&L at work? Our God understands the concept of baby steps, but the trick is – to take the step. Begin. Walk.

I wonder, I wonder how different the conversation would have been in this parable had he come back with even nothing, but showed everything he had done to at least try to make something more. He was so scared of failure, but I somehow think that even with nothing in his hands but the evidence of him trying, that would have been worth more to the king.

I’m thinking through the “small things” in my life. Things that can bring us blessings if I know God can trust me with them.

Finances of course – and I’ll be honest, we need to get back to where we were on this. Be more intentional about where every dollar is going. There seems to be more of them when we do this.

The biggest thing to me is trusting God. Really. Can I, do I trust Him? REALLY trust Him. Don’t worry about things, don’t actively worry about our future, our children – scared God will take away. B/c he promises over and that if I trust Him with a little, if I will work with the little – He will bless us with the big.

My prayer is that my eyes will be opened to more of the small things in my life. Consciously recognize those and begin to work on those, whatever that may look like. After all, I want the King to be proud of me.

What are the small things in your life?