The Importance of small things

"Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of mothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea is some."

Americans are seduced by size; we lust after anything that is gargantuan and massive. It is no wonder we are the nation that created super-sized fast food, mega-malls and jumbo jets. In our pandering for anything massive, we forget our dependence upon small and seemingly insignificant things. Consider North Dakota. Of all the states, North Dakota is possibly the most insignificant, forgotten and over-looked state in the union. In fact, I have met numerous Americans who have never heard of North Dakota. It is not surprising really, who would care about a state in the middle of no where that has neither a remarkable geographical feature or any significant population? Yet, we cannot forget about small and insignificant North Dakota because it is America's number one producer of Spring Wheat, Winter Wheat, Sugar Beets, Barley, Oats, Canola, Sun Flowers, Flax Seed, Edible Beans, Honey and Dry Beans. Furthermore, North Dakota is the third largest producer of potatoes, the fourth largest producer of soybeans and the fifth largest producer of oil. If you ate any wheat products this morning there is a fifty percent chance that the wheat was grown in North Dakota. If you used Canola oil there is a ninety-one percent chance it was produced in North Dakota. This small and insignificant state feeds America. William Bradford, the second governor of the Plymouth settlement, said, "Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by [God's] hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many." (William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, chap. 21) A small candle can light a thousand candles and a small state can feed millions of mouths.

Small things matter. For instance, in our Gospel reading, Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." The words of Jesus, each individual word, have eternal value. Or consider Jesus' words in Matthew 5:18, "Verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The tittle is a tiny extension on letters in the Hebrew alphabet and look like little horns. Tittles are very small and appear insignificant, yet if they are missing the meaning of Scripture would be significantly altered. There is one tittle separating the words "Praise" and "Profane. There is one small tittle keeping Psalm 150:6 "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord" from reading "Let everything that hath breath profane the Lord." There is one tittle separating the words "against" and "like. There is one tittle keeping Jeremiah 5:10 "They lied against the Lord" from reading "They lied like the Lord." One small tittle separates truth for heresy. How inspired is Scripture, down to the jot and tittle. If a small candle can light a thousand candles, one small inspired word or one tittle can light a thousand minds.

Small words matter. The word "inspired" is a small meaningful word. It means "God-breathed" and in II Timothy 3:16, St. Paul applies this word to Scripture. This small word has a gigantic significance for just as God breathed life into Adam so He continuously breathes life into Scripture and this life flows into and through every word, every jot and every tittle. Therefore it is not surprising to find St. Paul saying in our Epistle that the Scriptures were written for our comfort. Nor is it surprising that our Collect prays, "graciously grant that we may hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest [Scripture], that by patience and comfort of thy holy word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ." The words of Scripture are inspired therefore we must pay attention to them, digest them and find our comfort in them.

Small things matter and we can find our comfort in the small words of Scripture because each and every one of these small words reveal Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. There are two important applications to be made. First, if we want to know Jesus we must bathe ourselves in the words of Scripture. There is no alternative. If we want to have comfort and hope in this world of trouble we must know Jesus and we can only know Jesus through the words of Scripture. Therefore we must soak ourselves in Scripture's words until we become all wrinkled and water-logged. Second, all scripture is inspired and that means we must wash ourselves in every single word in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, particularly those words that upset us and offend us. Scripture is the only antiseptic powerful enough to kill those diseases that prevent us from knowing Jesus Christ. If we try to sanitize or sterilize scripture to fit the prevailing opinions of culture we will destroy our only hope of a cure. When we read something bothersome or even offensive in Scripture more often than not we are offended because Scripture's antiseptic, the Holy Spirit, is beginning to kill our sinful disease, what ever it may be. In his book The Reason for God, Tim Keller said, "[W]hat happens if you eliminate anything from the Bible that offends your sensibility and crosses your will? If you pick and choose what you want to believe and reject the rest, how will you ever have a God who can contradict you? You won't! You'll have a …God…of your own making, and not a God with whom you can have a relationship and genuine interaction. Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination." (Tim Keller, The Reason for God, pg 114) Because Jesus Christ is a real person, born of the Virgin Mary and who will one day return in judgment, and because we can only know Jesus by entering into a relationship with him through the inspired Scriptures, we should expect the Scriptures to contradict us, to bother us and even offend us.

William Shakespeare said, "Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short." (King Richard the Second, II, i, 34) Bathing in the Scriptures may seem like a small thing, but it is the only shower that will sanitize and sterilize the sinful diseases mutilating our body and soul. The world will always offer alternative cures, but these cures will not last. You cannot take a pill for sin or put a band aid on transgressions. The diseases of sin and transgression and the epidemics of shame and guilt can only be cured by Jesus Christ for only in him can we find the remedy we need: forgiveness. Our remedy, Jesus Christ, can only be found in the healing antiseptic words of Scripture. We all have something in our lives that needs to be scrubbed and cleansed. Therefore the question we must ask ourselves this Advent Season is "What part of our lives are we trying to keep out of the waters of Scripture?" "What portions of Scripture do we avoid reading in order to keep our consciences from convicting us?"

If a small candle can light a thousand candles, a small inspired word of Scripture can inspire a thousand minds. If a small state like North Dakota can feed a thousand people, a small inspired word of Scripture can feed a thousand bellies hungering for Jesus Christ. Finally, if a small shower can last a long time, so the small inspired words of Scripture will last to eternity. So go stand out in the showers of Scripture and be cleansed by the healing waters Jesus' forgiveness so that we may splash with child-like delight, hope and comfort in the puddles of life.