Funny how “little” people make a big difference: In this passage, a Hebrew girl influenced international events by leading Naaman to Elisha to be healed. This slave girl shouldn’t have mattered, but she did.
In the news, a young American woman shook the world by courageously telling what she saw on January 6. Her testimony may lead to criminal charges against our former President. This 25-year-old White House staffer shouldn’t have mattered, but she does.
Funny how “little” people make a big difference: A common carpenter changed the world by faithfully living, healing, and preaching in a backwater of an empire. Born a nobody. Crucified as a criminal. This peasant shouldn’t have mattered, but he does. His sacrificial life reconciles us to God and his Easter rising assures us that his way of love, justice, and peace shall prevail.
Which brings us to you. None of us are important in the eyes of the world. None of us is Wall Street rich, Hollywood handsome, or 5th Avenue fashionable. We don’t matter in the halls of power. Your obituary won’t be headline news.
But you are important in the eyes of God. You are infinitely loved. You matter and you have power. The Holy Spirit gives you power to serve and love as you follow Christ. Who cares about making headlines? Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Who cares about being remembered for being important after you’re dead when you’re going to be resurrected because you are eternally loved right now? What’s important is how we choose to live for Christ today.
The famous preacher Fred Craddock rightly said: “Most of us this week will not christen a ship, write a book, end a war, appoint a cabinet, dine with a queen, convert a nation, or be burned at the stake. More likely the week will present no more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, vote for a county commissioner, teach a Sunday school class, share a meal, read a child a story, go to choir practice, and feed the neighbor’s cat. Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.”
Focus on being faithful and leave the results to God. As we incarnate Christ’s humble way of mercy, forgiveness, and peace, God integrates the good we do into the greater good God is doing for the world.
The butterfly effect is the name for the truth that small actions have enormous consequences. A butterfly flapping its wings sets off a chain of effects that ripple affecting weather around the world. So, too, your everyday, “little” actions have Kingdom consequences.
You matter. What you do as you follow Christ changes the world. So, keep at it. You don’t have to be Super-Christian. You don’t have to be Pope Francis, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Billy Graham, and Bono all rolled into one. Just be you – and become who God created you to be: Fully alive in love. Just do that. You don’t have to be perfect. None of us are. So, not if, but when you mess up, just ask God to forgive you. God always will. Then ask God to help you begin again and do better. God certainly will.
Funny how “little” people make a big difference. You do. Christ is with you. Let your light shine.