Starting Small

https://odb.org/MY/2023/01/02/a-small-start

When we look at the Bible, we will see that God raises people out of the weaker or smaller tribes or smaller cities. In the case of Jesus, He was from Bethlehem Epharathah, a small tribe among the clans of Judah and also a small village near Jerusalem. But because of who Jesus was and is, Bethlehem became famous throughout the world. In fact, I stayed in Bethlehem during my previous trip to Israel, nearly 8 years ago.

It was the same with King David. God selected him even though he was the youngest and thus considered the weakest then among the 8 children of Jesse. David was still in his youth when the LORD through the prophet Samuel chose him to be King to succeed Saul, and it is through the lineage of David that Jesus, the Messiah, was born. As history has shown, David became the greatest king Israel ever had. The era of David is regarded as the golden era of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Even in the world, it is the right path to start small, to be unknown among many. Like a fresh graduate entering a company as a management trainee starting at the bottom of the corporate ladder in terms of influence, authority, and pay scale. If we are into business, we should start with a simple business before venturing into large capital investments. That is why most successful businessmen are those early entrepreneur adopters. Rarely are those who succeed in business those who had worked many years and then invested their savings or work severance packages into a new venture. There are many lessons in business one can only acquire through trial and error as an investor of your own money and not as a salaried person.

Wherever we are and whatever sphere of influence we have, start there as our ministry. We will never be Reinhard Bonke or Billy Graham overnight. God will not zap us with some magical powers and transform us overnight into a powerful and effective evangelist. Tradition has it that after the Road to Damacus Experience, Paul spent 10 years in Arabia and another 3 years in Jerusalem with the other Apostles before starting on his ministry to the Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel as commissioned by Christ to him in Acts 9:15. Jesus Himself spent 30 years living as a normal human and working as a carpenter in adulthood before embarking on His ministry.

In our service for God, start small but start somewhere. It doesn’t matter that we are unknowns in ministry, although we could be giants in our field in the world. Start small, God sees our heart. In the end, what matters is our obedience to the call and not the magnitude or size of our ministry. For example, even if only 10 people read my blog writings, I will still keep on writing if this is what the Lord wants me to do. Hopefully, I will reach 100 people one day. The effort required is the same, so the more reading, the better, but it’s ok to start small and to continue with the effort as there is much to learn from the Lord in the process. When it comes to the things of God, most often than not, the journey is more beneficial than the end result.