Some religious people feel that as long as one has a sincere heart, the “little” details do not make much difference. Yet we don’t think this way about other matters which are not of eternal consequence. Consider:
If 99.9 percent is good enough, then…
- Two million documents will be lost by the IRS this year.
- 811,000 faulty rolls of 35 mm film will be sold this year.
- 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next 60 minutes.
- 1,314 phone calls will be misplaced by telecommunication services every minute,
- 12 babies will be given to the wrong parents each day.
- 268,500 defective tires and 14,208 defective personal computers will be shipped this year.
- 403,260 tax returns will be returned incorrectly this year.
- 2,488,200 books will go out every 12 months with the wrong cover.
- 5,517,200 cases of soft drinks produced in the next 12 months will be flatter than a bad tire.
- Two plane landings daily at O’Hare Airport will be unsafe.
- 3,056 copies of tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal will be missing one of the three sections.
- 18,322 pieces of mail will be mishandled in the next hour,
- 291 pacemaker operations will be botched this year.
- 880,000 credit cards in circulation will turn out to have incorrect cardholder information on their magnetic strips.
- $9,690 will be spent today, next Thursday, and every day in the future on defective, often unsafe sporting equipment.
- 55 malfunctioning automatic teller machines will be installed in the next 12 months.
- 20,000 incorrect prescriptions will be written this year.
- 114,500 mismatched shoes will be shipped this year.
- $761,900 will be spent in the next 12 months on tapes and compact discs that won’t play.
- 107 incorrect medical procedures will be performed today.
- 315 entries in Webster’s Dictionary will turn out to be misspelled (Insight, Syncrude Canada, Ltd.)
A LITTLE FAITH IS INSUFFICIENT. Jesus noticed the “small stuff.” He commented on the fall of a sparrow (Mt. 10:2931), a vine and branches (Jn, 15:1-5), a lily (Mt. 6:28), the cry of need in a noisy crowd (Mt. 5:25-34), a cup of cold water (Mt. 1 0:42), and a widow’s mite (Mk. 12:42). He records and rewards the “little” things (Mt. 25;31-46; 16:26; Rev. 20:1 1-15). One small thing that brought His comment on four separate occasions was “little faith.” Worry (Mt. 6:30), fear (Mt. 8:26), doubt (Mt. 14:31), and an unwillingness to trust the Lord to take care of them (Mt. 16:8), all led the Lord to reprove them for having too little faith. Have we outgrown worry—or do we still lose sleep over things the Lord will handle? Have we conquered fear—or do we sometimes feel ourselves sinking back into it as Peter sank into the Sea of Galilee? Have we overcome doubt—or do we sometimes wonder if God will keep His promises? Do we completely trust the Lord to take care of us—or do we find ourselves stubbornly unwilling to let Him handle His part?
A LITTLE FAULT MAY RUIN A CHARACTER. A person may be very talented, but have one fault, and be a failure. Did you ever hear someone say, “I like that fellow, except he is always talking about himself?” Or “She is a good person, but she is lazy.” Or, “He will give you the shirt off his back, but he’s bad to hit the bottle.” A little pride (Prov. 16:18; 29:23), envy (Jas. 3:16; Rm. 1129; 1 Cor. 3:3), greed (Acts 5; cc Judas), lust (Mt. 5:27-29), or malice (Eph. 4:31; 1 Pet. 2:1; 1 Cor. 14:20; 1 Jn. 3:20) can lead to big problems. A little social drinking (Prov. 20:1) or being a little “critical” (Mt 7:1-2) can bring on great consequences. The tongue is a little member, but it can kindle great strife (Jas. 3:5).
A LITTLE SIN CAN CONDEMN US. God watches the “small stuff.” Jesus said, “…Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities” (Luke 19:17; cf. Mt. 25:21). James said, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (2:10). Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, suffered inglorious defeat upon the battlefield and dogs licked his blood (1 Kings. 16-18). It is interesting to note the beginning of his downfall: “…Ahab worshipped Baal a little (2 Kings 10:18; cf. 1 Kgs, 16:31; Ezek. 16:47; Ecce. 10: 1).
A LITTLE FALSE DOCTRINE CAN POISON THE SOUL. God has always been a stickler for doctrine. The word doctrine(s) is found 49 times in the New Testament. It is the key word of three books in the New Testament: First Timothy, Second Timothy, and Titus (1 Tim. 1:10: 2 Tim. 1 17, 13; 4.€3: Tit. 1:9, 13; 2:1,2,8). He expects us to “test our teachers” on doctrine (1 Jn. 4: l). Jesus said, ‘VI-le that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10), On the last page of the Bible, God wrote: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words Of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22118.19: cf. Deut, 4:2; 12:32; Prov. 30:6).
“Small stuff can lead to big trouble. What about a decimal point out of place? One dollar lost in nation-wide sales can bankrupt a company overnight. What about a spark in the wrong place? What about a ball bearing or a gas filter not functioning properly? What about a little hole in your tire? Like little acorns make the mighty oaks, little departures from the truth make big digressions (cc 2 Jn. 9-1 1).
Solomon said, “Little foxes destroy the vines” (Song. 2:15), which relates to the Jewish agricultural economy. Grapes were a staple item, so watchmen protected vineyards from thieving animals. Sometimes a watchman guarded against bears, while foxes entered undetected and ruined the crop. So it is in many churches. We guard against what we call “big” departures from the faith, but dismiss small ones, thinking they make little difference. A combination of foxes may do as much damage as a bear. The poet phrased it:
A pebble in the streamlet scant
hath changed the course of many a river.
A droplet on a tiny plant
hath warped the giant oak forever.
No man has made the right approach to God until he understands the importance of small things, “Sweat the small stuff”—it matters.
