The Little Things Count Greatly

In review of Luke 16:10 it says, “Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones.”

Bottom Line:

Unless you are honest in small matters, you won’t be in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.

What this means to me:

If I am faithful in small matters, then I can also be trusted with larger and more important matters. However, if I’m not faithful or dishonest in small matters then I won’t be faithful and honest in larger and more important matters.

What I’m learning is that God will use little things to test my integrity. The tendency is to think it’s the big things in life that create a leader. This is not true. The big crises in life reveal leadership, but leadership is not built in the big things of life, but rather in the small things of life. This is where integrity shows up; in the stuff that nobody sees, in the stuff behind the scenes. In the small, unseen, unspectacular choices of life where I do the right thing even though nobody’s ever going to see it.

Faithfulness requires integrity, and God will test my integrity in the little things.

In Luke 16:10 Jesus says, “Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones” (GNT). This is indicating that my public blessing will be determined by my private integrity.

When scandals appear, many will say, “It really shouldn't matter what a guy does in his private life. It hasn't a thing to do with him as a leader.”

My opinion is that it has everything to do with him as a leader!  If a man lies to his wife, he’ll lie to others. If he’ll lie to his best friend, to whom he said, “Till death do us part,” he will likely cheat on others.

My public blessing as a leader comes because of private integrity that nobody will ever see. God uses these little things in my life to test my integrity.

I must remember this always. The small things are just as important as the larger things. Many years ago, I adopted this phrase as part of my mission statement for life; “To live with integrity, and to make a difference in the lives of others.”

Today, I will consider some of the small things in my life to make sure that I’m handling these as equally important as the larger things. I will strive to be consistent in how I handle both.