Dear Friends in Christ,
“Whoever is faithful in a very little, is faithful also in much…”
(Luke 16:10a).
A few years back, I developed a stress fracture in my lower leg and had to stop running for a while. My doctor said, “You could swim at the YMCA!” I replied, “Have you seen me swim?” I’ve never been a good swimmer. When my cousins and I would swim in frigid Lake Superior, I only went in armpit deep. And when the waves were coming in fast and furious, I would watch the others swim from the shore. I knew my limitations.
I think it’s good to know our limitations although I don’t think it’s good when we allow our limitations to hold us back. When we are convinced that we can’t, then all too often, we won’t. Lake Superior is huge, and I am small. Racism is endemic and systemic, and I’m not sure where to even begin.
On this side of heaven, there is this great gap between where we settle and where Jesus calls us to be. And some of the best ways to bridge that gap are through prayer and Scripture, listening and learning, conversation and action. Small ways that through habit and over time become significant ways.
As a nation, we are experiencing a Kairos moment. A moment in time, where everything changes, not simply because it is the right time (which it is), but because it is God’s time. We have before us the opportunity to repent, to grow and to join Jesus in the renewal of all things (Revelation 21:5a). And the work that Jesus is calling us to is heart work, which is the hardest work of all. The work to change the heart of a nation deeply steeped in racism is enormous, but it always begins by allowing God to change me; to change my heart, one beat at a time.
One of my favorite writers is Seth Godin who recently shared a short teaching called, Stuck on Enormity. “When a problem appears too large, too intractable, and too unspeakable to deal with, it’s easy to give up. There never seems to be enough time, enough resources, or enough money to make the big problems go away. Perhaps we can start with a very small part of it. One person, one opportunity, one connection. Drip by drip, with commitment. Those are the two hard parts. The insight to do it drip by drip and the persistence to commit to it”.
In Luke 16, Jesus calls us to be faithful in little things, which then leads us (through habit and over time) to be trustworthy in big things. In God’s economy small always has a way of becoming significant. It’s just the way God works. One small heartbeat at a time. One small drip at a time.
So, what small, but significant thing might God be calling you to pursue this day?