This week, let’s translate the Ebola experience into where all of us live—daily life: home, work, school, the daily challenges we face. Sometimes it is easier to exercise faith for the heroic effort than to face what we sometimes think of as the mundane routines of life.
The beauty of the routine challenges of life is that they are everywhere. God is very creative in giving us opportunities to demonstrate love, especially when we may not feel like it. And the Scriptures indicate that each opportunity is a big deal, not a small one.
Look at Luke 16:10. Jesus said “he who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much” (emphasis added). Jesus did not say “will be faithful in much.” In other words, whatever thing you may think of as small and unimportant, it really is not. It is a big thing to God. There is no task too small or insignificant not to be done faithfully.
Think about the implications of this with the many so-called “little things” of life:
- our willingness to do work or household responsibilities even when we would rather be somewhere else;
- the tone of voice or body language we use when talking with someone we don’t care to be around;
- the patient firmness we exhibit when our children are struggling with obedience;
- our reaction to an honor received by someone else;
- our continuing to trust in God even when finances are running short or our body is not cooperating.
- Our response when treated unfairly at work
These opportunities present choices we tend to think are small, but in reality are important to God. They are significant, because they are indicative of our faithfulness to God. Life is filled with these opportunities, and God’s ability to supply them is inexhaustible.
This is good news for us, because these “little things” present to us the same opportunities that were presented to the Ebola doctor in West Africa: choices to demonstrate God’s love (or not). The Ebola doctor could have walked away when things got overwhelming, or when his health was at risk. Likewise, we could walk away from our responsibilities, but we would then be walking away from the very opportunities that God has provided for us to demonstrate love.
Now here’s an opportunity for you to encourage others. Please tell us about your own “Ebola opportunities” – maybe a so-called “little thing” that helped mature you in your relationship with the Lord. Maybe it’s a seemingly insignificant discipline you learned growing up that helped teach you selflessness as a way of life. We may use some of these as examples, but won’t identify names or specifics of the situation. Drop us a note at blog@bcfministries.org. Or learn more about BCF’s ministry and study materials at www.bcfministries.org.