Our True Heart is Displayed in the Little Things

                                                                              Daniel 3

We have all heard the stories about the heroes of faith that came before us. Whether it be from our Sunday school teachers, Veggie Tales or, for those of us who grew up in the 80's, Super Book and Flying House. (yes I am showing my age!) These stories mystify us and inspire us to rise to a greatness that far surpasses that of mere mortal men. One such story is that of the three Hebrew children. They refused to bow before the idol presented to them in order to preserve their integrity before God. In truth, no one would have noticed or most likely have said anything against them if they had simply bowed and saved themselves. In todays world we may even have called it wisdom quoting our favorite mantra, "God sees the heart." We use this often when we want to justify any action, in particularly what we view as small actions, that go against what we are commanded in the Bible. Of course God does look on the heart judging us by the secret thoughts and intents of our hearts over our actions; but if James is to be believed, then our faith should be backed up by our actions and this is most important in the simple or little areas of our walk. After all, is it not the little foxes that spoil the vine? The three Hebrew children, however, took a much different path in their walk then most of us might take today. They even threw out any avenue of escape when they said, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. IF it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

 

Of course, most of us will not face death, dismemberment, torture, or persecution as these heroes of faith did. We do, however, face challenges to our faith that can be trying and even crippling to us. Unless you live somewhere outside of the United States, Canada and Europe where persecution and even giving ones life for Christ are very real possibilities; but, for those of us who reside within the confines of these nations we find that our faith can be tried in less overt ways. I think, though I speak from ignorance, sometimes being tested in such subtle and non obvious ways can at times be a greater challenge then having to face outright and open persecution. I in no way mean to minimize or take lightly the tremendous and horrible persecution our brothers and sisters in less free nations face; I simply, have found that subtle testing and temptations to ones faith can be very difficult as well, because we tend to view these testing and trials as trivial. For instance, how can paying ones tithe when they are short for a week compare to having a gun put to your head? It can not, but this is why it can become easier to over look. We do not view the simple daily disciplines of Christianity to be as important as the major incidents that happen to us.

In Ephesians we are told to put on the full armor of God and to stand and having done all to stand...Stand. This decree is no less important to us in the simple areas in our life as it is in the larger areas. Remember, Gods table and scales are far different to ours. For instance, to God a thousand years is as a day, and a day is as a thousand years. If we apply this mathematical equation (yes I said mathematical equation!) to every aspect of reality we find that God views things on a level that is far beyond us. So, for God a cut finger is not any harder to heal then AIDS, and providing one million dollars is just as easy for him as providing one dollar. So if we apply this equation to life, then paying ones tithe when they are short is just as important as believing unto death. Wow! So are you saying that me deciding to believe God in small areas is just as important to God as those saints who have given their lives? Well, yes I am. You can burn me at the steak later if you want; but, I'm not backing down from this statement.

 We as people like to bring God down to our level; and in so doing, we put levels and scales on everything. For instance, we have our levels of sin. To us murder is worse then say lying; but in Gods eyes, they are exactly the same. To Him all sin has the same penalty or result, and that is death. So to God, me paying my tithe when I am short is just as important as me believing unto death. Well then, why is this so? I am so glad you asked; because, that is the question of the day. It is important because it shows your heart. Making the simple or little things in your walk just as important as the big things shows where your heart truly lays. We see this best when we look at the relationship of marriage. As any healthy married couple will tell you it is not in the big grand gestures that their love is proven; but rather, it is in the everyday little things that they choose to do for each other. This principle can be applied to our own daily relationship with The Lord. It is after all not a religion but a relationship with a very real God; who is after all, a very real Person with a very real personality. We can be like the three Hebrew children in our daily walk by showing just as much integrity and passion in the little unseen areas of our daily walk as we do in the larger and what we perceive as more important areas of our life. Of course, after all, to God there are no little or less significant areas. To Him, it is all the same. Everything no matter how small is a test of where our heart truly lays.