So Start Small

One of the amazing things about God is He has this incredible ability to take that which is small and to make it big. He has a history of doing that. When He took a small amount of bread and fish and He fed thousands. When Jesus pointed to the woman who gave two coins in the offering and He said to His disciples, “She’s giving more than anybody because she gave everything she had.’” Jesus said, “ Let Me tell you what’s big. It’s when you give a cup of water.” Matthew 10 says, “Even if you give a cup of cold water to one of the least of My followers you will surely be rewarded.”

So start small. Give Him what you have. It doesn’t have to be big. If you love music, you don’t have to start by writing songs, just be faithful in singing songs and before long you may be writing songs and producing songs. You can start small. We’ve bought into this myth; this cultural myth that’s made it’s way into the church that says if I’m going to go I might as well go big. Go big or go home. And because I don’t have anything to offer that’s big I’m going to sit on the sidelines. You don’t have to identify with or go to a big church to serve a big God and use the small gift that you presently possess.

One of my favorite things I see and hear about in churches as I travel is the people who serve in small ways that nobody even knows about.

Several years ago I was looking for the man who would replace me as pastor of the first church I started. A preacher friend I had known for many years had moved to our city and began attending our church. He and his family were on an extended Sabbatical. He had pastored for years and was no longer pastoring. During Vacation Bible School I noticed that he would show up and clean the bathrooms after the children’s break. He also began to do all sorts of little jobs around the church that were too small for many to notice. Today, he is the senior pastor of that church. He served his way right into my heart and the pulpit that I had been privileged to fill for 25 years. He is a great leader in my eyes not just because he is a good preacher, but also because he models service and serving.

When you’re serving, God looks at your heart. He doesn’t necessarily look at the size of the job you are doing? He’s looking at your heart. He cares about your heart. 1 Chronicles 28 says, “The Lord sees every heart and understands and knows every plan and thought.” It’s not the size of the job that He’s looking at. He’s looking at the motive of your heart. What’s your heart like while you’re serving?

If there were not a lot of people doing the little things you know what would happen to most churches? They would crumble or be in disarray. But there are a lot of big, good, and godly people doing the little things.

I began to think this week. What would happen if nobody did anything? What would happen if just one person did everything? I tried to imagine what that might look like. What I would love to see is every person doing at least one thing. You see a need and then you meet it. That’s the equation for significance. It’s not small to God. Why don’t you ask around and find out what you can do in your neighbor, your community or your church. It might seem small to you, but I assure you it can make a difference.

Assume responsibility for your life.

This is not a popular concept because in our culture we have a concept called “political correctness”. This basically says, “None of your problems are your fault. Everything bad in your life is somebody else’s fault. Blame the environment. Blame the educator. Blame your parents. Blame anybody else, but it’s not your fault.” If you get in an accident, it’s never your liability. If you spill some hot coffee on yourself, sue McDonalds — it’s their fault. It’s always somebody else’s fault. But you’re never going to be a success in life and you’re never going to make your life count if you have that attitude. You must assume responsibility for your own life.

Believe you can change

Stop saying, “I can’t” and start saying, “I can”. The person who says, “I can’t” and the person who says, “I can” are both right. Philippians 4:13 (Jerusalem Bible) “There is nothing I cannot master with the help of Christ who gives me strength.” Do you really believe that verse? There’s nothing I can’t master! That means there’s nothing I’m going to hit in the next 365 days, no problem, no situation, no circumstance, no hassle that I can’t handle, that I can’t manage, that I’m not competent to handle. On my own effort? Of course not! But “…with the strength that Christ gives me.”

Clarify what you really want

You must decide what’s important and what isn’t important. God has given each of us an incredible gift called the freedom to choose, the freedom of choice. That’s one of the things that makes you like God. When God says in Genesis 1, “Let Us make man in Our own image” one of the ways you’re different from animals is He gave you the freedom to choose between good and evil.
Job: “We can choose the sounds we want to listen to. We can choose the taste we want in food. We should choose to follow what is right. But first of all we must define what is good — that means to clarify what I really want. What are your values? What’s important to you? What really counts? You can’t do what’s important until you clarify what’s important. Otherwise you’re going to be pushed around by the pressures of life doing this and that then all of a sudden the year is over and you’re saying, “What got done?”
Your values determine your vision. Your desires determine your direction. Your roles determine your goals. You must first stop and say, “What’s important? What really matters to me?”

Don’t wait to begin.

Nike says, JUST DO IT! I say do it now! Three words that will change your life — Do it now. There will never be an ideal circumstance to start on that change, to make that growth, to work on that development. Do it now. Don’t wait to begin.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.” Probably the phrase I hear more often than any other is “When things settle down…” They’re not going to settle down! That’s called life!
Life must be enjoyed under imperfect circumstances. Whatever you’re going to do — get on with it now! Because things are not going to settle down for you until you’re in the coffin.

So what are you going to do in 2012? Have you given any thought as to how this New Year might be different. 2011 was a good year but a tough year for so many. It was a year of challenges, a year of choices, and a year of changes. For some it was a year of crises. The fact is for some of you 2011 brought disappointment. Maybe you experienced the loss of a loved one. Maybe it was the loss of a job or possibly you had a financial setback.

The good news is this: However 2011 was for you, in just a few days you will get to start over. Well, maybe not over, but it will become a new starting point. God brings us life in bite-sized pieces, in hours and days and months. Every year He just says, let’s wipe the slate clean and let’s start with a brand new year. It’s like starting over. And that’s good news.

I am of the persuasion if a new day, a new week or a new year is to be better it will involve making a plan, setting some goals and working and praying to that end. Just saying, “I hope it’s going to be better.” will not work. You’ve got to have a plan to pray and work toward to make it better.

Proverbs 17:24 “An intelligent person aims at wise actions, but a fool starts off in many directions.” For some that may describe 2011. You went charging off in many directions. To have an aim means that you have a goal, a target, and an objective. I would encourage you to spend a little time planning as to what you would like to see happen next year. Of course it’s God’s hands but He does want us to plan.

I am not sure I will finish this article today, but I would like to offer four steps or four keys to maximizing this New Year.

I believe it is always good for each of us to:

A – Assume responsibility for your life.

This is not a popular concept because in our culture we have a concept called “political correctness”. This basically says, “None of your problems are your fault. Everything bad in your life is somebody else’s fault. Blame the environment. Blame the educator. Blame your parents. Blame anybody else, but it’s not your fault.” If you get in an accident, it’s never your liability. If you spill some hot coffee on yourself, sue McDonalds — it’s their fault. It’s always somebody else’s fault. But you’re never going to be a success in life and you’re never going to make your life count if you have that attitude. You must assume responsibility for your own life.

Galatians 6:5 “Each person must be responsible for himself.” The fact is my choices always determine more than my circumstances. You cannot control your circumstances. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me this coming year. You haven’t the foggiest idea either. But we can control our actions and our reactions. Our actions and our reactions will be determined by our choices therefore, I’m going to choose to be different in 2012.

There are three kinds of people in life. There are accusers. There are excusers. There are choosers.

Accusers: They always blame everybody else for their problems. Their favorite phrase is, “It’s all your fault.” It’s never their fault.

Excusers: Excusers always have a rationale for where they are. There’s always a reason. I’ve discovered that whenever I want to procrastinate on something, any excuse will do. The Bible says, “A lazy man is full of excuses.”

Accusers and excusers are people who blame others and people who excuse themselves (I call them losers). So you need to be a chooser.

Choosers: Choosers say, “I choose to assume responsibility for my own happiness. I’m not dependent upon somebody else. I choose the direction of my life.” I’m not depending upon the crowd. I’m choosing to accept responsibility for my life. If you choose to do this, you already have a head start for this New Year.

I think I will make this a series. See you next week.

One replied, “I just got out of the hospital, and how good it was to hear from a longtime wonderful friend!” (Must have had amnesia!)

Another said, “We had difficulty at first remembering who you were, but after some thought, we remembered. Please give our love to your father. He is a wonderful man.” (What creative memories!)

One reply was unexpected, “It was really great to hear from you again. We will be in Salt Lake City this summer, and if you have a spare room, we would like to stay with you two or three days!” (Now that’s what friends are for!)

Anne and I want to take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas. We are blessed to have so many wonderful friends. We hope you each have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous and blessed New Year. You are always in our thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Ron and Anne

Jay Leno said, “Did you hear that the atheist have produced a Christmas play? It’s called “Coincidence on 34th Street.”

But what happens when you’re going through life and you think everything is really, really important? Well that’s what happens when you’re drained and running on empty. When you’re running on empty you don’t have the wisdom to be able to discern and decide what is really important. So, when everything seems really important that’s proof that you’re running on empty.

When this happens your perspective is off and your decision-making becomes blurry. You crumble under pressure and here’s what you do. You elevate things that aren’t really that important and you devalue things that are really, really important.

We have bought into the cultural lie that Busy is better. You often hear this when you greet someone. “How you doing? Keeping busy?” Why do we say that? As if busy is the ultimate value. “How you doing? Keeping busy? Good for you! So am I! I’ve got to run! See you later!”

Busy isn’t better. Choosing better is better.

I’m going to say something now that’s possibly going to hurt some of you. I know this first hand and I know it from working with people for over 40 years. Busy people tend to be empty people. They’re empty emotionally. They’re empty spiritually. They’re empty relationally. And the reason they are so busy is they’re trying to fill up their emptiness. Somehow, like activity and busyness will make them feel needed, significant, important, valuable and successful. They think they will now be accepted by the other busy empty successful people.

Some of you may receive this very defensively. I know I’m ticking people off on this one. “I’m busy but I’m not empty. I’m very, very healthy.” No, you’re not. When you get to heaven you’ll see I was right on this one. Anyway, “me think thou dost protest too much.”

Busy isn’t better. Choosing better is better. I’m convinced that until we learn to choose better then we’ll always be running on empty and complaining that we never have enough time.

I want to show you an example of this from the New Testament. In Luke 10 we have a conversation that Jesus has with two people. One who chooses better and one who doesn’t choose better. In Luke 10, starting with verse 38 it says this, “As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.’ Jesus said, ‘Martha, Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, You are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.’”

The bottom line is that Mary chose better. One chose busy one chose better.

I am aware there is a right time for all things. At this particular time when Jesus was in their home sharing and fellowshipping it was a time for listening and learning. Notice Jesus does acknowledge that preparations had to be made, but Martha became distracted by premature preparations.

So here’s the pattern of busyness.

It begins with good intentions. This is where busyness usually begins. Martha wasn’t evil. Martha was being hospitable. She had the right heart. She opened her home to Jesus. I believe most have good intentions. We have good intentions for our kids. We have good intentions for our career. We have good intentions to provide for our family.

The good intentions got the ball of activity rolling and somewhere, somehow, something got lost and the second thing happened – distractions moved in. We were derailed by distractions. That’s what happened to Martha. Jesus said she was distracted.

Think about this. God in the flesh is in your living room having wine and cheese at your coffee table – tell me what is so important that it couldn’t wait until He left or suggested they enjoy a meal together. Martha was distracted by something she thought needed to be done.

When you’re derailed by distractions, distractions can appear as priorities and priorities can seem like distractions. Staying focused on what’s really important is very difficult to do.

Then after you’re derailed by distractions here’s what happens. Pressure and pity arrive. This is where you begin to have a little pity party for yourself. Martha says in verse 40 “Lord, don’t You care?” We’re not told in the text what was the boiling point for Martha. We don’t know what pushed her over the edge to make her say this.

Whatever it was, this was a sign that she was running on empty. When you have no margin in your life then you have no emotional reserves to pull from when things go wrong. You say and you do things that you regret.

So pressure enters and then pity comes. You’ve done this. You know what this is like. My spouse doesn’t understand the pressure I feel to get the house clean and take care of the kids. My spouse doesn’t feel the pressure I feel to provide. My parents don’t understand the pressure I feel in school. No one understands how hard it is to be me. That’s pity.

Then after pressure and pity show up guess what’s right around the corner?
Resentment. That’s where busyness leads to. Resentment follows. Verse 40. Martha has another classic line “Tell her to help me.” You can almost hear the resentment in her voice. Jesus, tell Mary to get a little more in sync with my agenda. “If Mary was more like me we would have already eaten cleaned the kitchen and could be kicking back watching Dancing with the Samaritans.” Resentment can also be a sign of busyness. So who wants a life of pity and resentment?

Next week we will conclude by looking at how to take action against busyness.

Now let me begin by telling you who may not know me, a few things about my past. I started going to bed early when I was young so I could dream about all the things I wanted to get done the next day. I’ve always like fast. When TiVo first came out I would TiVo programs so I could watch a sixty-minute show in forty-three point five minutes. I liked fast food and my day would begin with instant breakfast. I wouldn’t even eat minute rice because it took too long.

I can remember before we had kids I told my wife there’s no reason that if you concentrate that our children can’t be born prematurely. I won’t tell you exactly what she said to me. But she responded very quickly.

So by now you should have the picture of the kind of person I was and would still be if I hadn’t experienced a great awakening.

Let me start by saying that I can totally relate. There was a time in my life when I was busy…busy…busy. I was on the go doing so many good things for God, family and my community. Then one day it happened. I came to the realization that God didn’t expect me to change the whole world – just my world.

Several years ago I made some radical decisions. I made some life changing decisions. I realized His yoke was easy and His burden was light. So I began to make some changes in my life to help me choose what matters most.

I tell you all this because I really believe I can help you today.

First, let’s examine some things we find ourselves saying that are just not true.

First: There’s not enough time to do everything.

This is just not true. It also has another name. The name is “If there were only more hours in my day.” The truth is, there’s just enough hours in your day to do everything God wants you to do.

So when we come to this feeling “I wish there were more hours in my day… there’s never enough time to do everything.” Admit it, somebody mismanaged his or her time. You or God. What do you guess?
But since none of us like to take blame we don’t like to blame ourselves for mismanaging our time, our priorities, our values, we’ll take a shot at God. “If I just had more hours in my day!” Maybe you don’t want to blame God, the creator of time. So you drop it down to Jesus. Or possibly the Holy Spirit. “I don’t know which of You three to blame. All I know is this: If You could just give me another one of those daylight savings things where I could get one more extra hour, that would be great.”

At some point when you think there’s just so much to do, and not enough time to do it, that’s a lie that fuels our busyness.

A second is this: It’s just a busy season I’m in right now.

This was my default lie. This was one I used so much – in my marriage, with my kids – “It’s so busy right now. It’s just a season. But you know how seasons are. Seasons always come to an end. It’s right around the corner. I can see good times. But all these projects seem to be due. There’s a lot of stuff going on, travel and different things like that. But when this season is over we’re going to get back to life as it was.”

That is a lie. Busy people don’t have seasons. Busy people have one season – it’s called busy. That season lines up behind it. It’s like Arizona – it doesn’t have seasons, right? It’s always hot. Everything is hot in Arizona. It’s not the season that’s busy. It’s the person that’s busy. And busy addicts just don’t want to admit that we’re busy addicts.

If you believe this lie you’ll always be busy.

A third lie is: This is really important.

This task this person, this meeting, this opportunity… We line these things up in front of us that are really important and we’re constantly faced with busyness. Here’s the key. It’s not just what we think is really important. It’s what other people in our world also think is important – that we should think is really important. So what others do is others transfer their urgency to become our emergency. Their problem now becomes our problem because it gets on our To Do list and our calendar.

Next week I want to talk about our pattern of busyness. There are some things we can learn after recognizing the lies mentioned above, and that is recognizing the pattern of busyness. After this we will look at some solutions.