‘Little Things’ mean a lot in Jesus’ plan of salvation

A song that came out many years ago was entailed “Little things mean a lot.” Kitty Kallen first sang it and Willie Nelson did also. The idea behind the song is that the small caring gestures like a touch on the shoulders when passing, or writing a note when you are away can be more meaningful than diamonds and pearls, champagne and such.

Jesus also talked about little things having special meaning. He talked about tiny seeds and compared them with the kingdom of heaven. Jesus didn’t liken the kingdom to a great empire. It is more like tiny seeds scattered here and there. It is more like a tiny plant than some mighty building. However, if we give it time, then the kingdom grows and spreads.

A wise motto we often hear is, “Think globally, act locally.” In other words, we need to look at the big picture, but also do the right thing, no matter how small the task. The approach is one that is far older than the ecology movement. It is the basic notion we find in Jesus’s teaching about the kingdom.

“Thinking globally, acting locally” is far harder to put into effect than we might think. Thinking about God’s vast plan of salvation is easy. However, loving one’s neighbor is far harder than it appears especially if our neighbors are cranky and unpleasant. We can give up because our little acts of forgiveness and love seem to make little difference to the world. Some people see such actions as distractions from “the real world” and its problems.

In the face of these difficulties and objections, we have to remind ourselves of three aspects of the activity of building the kingdom. First, the building of the kingdom is nothing less than bringing God’s love closer to creation. It is not a question of recruiting converts to our way of thinking and doing things. The kingdom happens whenever someone looks at the world afresh, has new joy, rejoices in beauty, or is encouraged to seek the good. These are the “aha moments” when God breaks into our lives.

Second, God calls each of us to carry out the activities of building the kingdom as part of a community, his church. We are not just a bunch of individuals who happen to share a view of the universe; we are people bonded together as the body of Christ. We are God family and we should act as a blessed family.

We engage in all these things with our Christian brothers and sisters knowing that we can work together, encourage one another, support one another, and comfort one another along an often difficult path.

Third, we are people who are called to live by faith, act with love, and walk with hope. Hope is living with the “not yet,” the apparent incompleteness of what we do, the energy to get up again after we have confronted frustration.

“Thinking globally, acting locally” also fits into the basic plan of salvation. We seek to build the kingdom of God the Father – and we pray for its coming. We do this in union with the Son – we act as the body of Christ. We press on in hope empowered by the Holy Spirit living within us.

“Thinking globally, acting locally” is a valuable slogan for all Christians. Think of the people who made a difference in your life. What did they do? I’ll be willing to bet they did little things that had great meaning in your life.

The values of God’s kingdom are simple: always be a loving person because God is love. Little things do mean a lot. Let’s continue to do them without becoming discouraged.