It's just a small thing, really...

A couple of months ago in a Bible study session we were talking about how our society and culture has a way of making sin acceptable. Little by little we become more accustomed to a accepting a behavior as normal that once was thought of as sinful. It’s not an overnight thing. It happens gradually, so much so that we don’t even realize it’s happening. Little by little we become numb to the fact that sin has crept in without us realizing it. Even when we read words in the Bible that remind us that God considers the behavior sin, we still offer explanations of “cultural relevancy” or say something like “this is the 21st Century” or this “this is not the dark ages anymore.”

At that same Bible study session, I shared with the women about my personal example of this. The organization I work for leases office space in a bank. There is shared kitchen in the building that is just down the hall from my office, right across from the women’s restroom. The main reason I go in that kitchen is because there is an ice maker in the refrigerator. Ice is free, renewable resource, right? Yeah, I thought you would agree.

Sometimes I would go down the hall with the restroom as my main goal. When I finish up in the restroom, I realize I have forgotten to bring my cup so that I can fill it up with ice from the kitchen (I have my own drinks in my office). Right there on the kitchen counter are plastic disposable cups with the bright red and blue bank logo printed on them. I whine about not wanting to make a trip back to my office to get my own personal cup, so I fill one of the bank logo cups with ice from the ice maker.

After a time or two of using those cups, I began to get convicted about the fact that those aren’t my cups. I began to see it at stealing. A couple of the women in my Bible study group laughed at me and told me I must not have anything to do at work if all I’m worried about is plastic cups.

I am grateful that the temptation put in front of me was only plastic cups. But where would it lead? If I took cups, am I not capable of taking the coffee pot? If I took the coffee pot, I could take the table and chairs next. Before you know it, I could be robbing the bank vault.

Bank robbers don’t wake up one day and suddenly become bank robbers. It starts long before that. It’s those little things that they get by with that leads them to believe they can get by with even more.

It’s the little things.

Focusing more on those little things has changed my perspective some, and not thy way I thought it would.

Earlier this week I felt like such a failure. There was no major crash and burn event. I didn’t rob a bank, I didn’t cheat on my husband, I didn’t get fired from my job.

It was a series of little things. I ate things that weren’t really on my diet (that is no longer a diet because I ate those things!). I put off making a phone call that I needed to make. I had a long range project at work that is not fun, so I didn’t work on it for a couple of days. It was just a couple of days without very much success in being faithful to the little things.

I was miserable. I just wanted to cry.

I went down the hall to the restroom and to get some ice from the kitchen. I then realized I had my own cup in my hand. I grabbed it without even thinking about it. A small victory for me, but an enormous one for God because in that moment I saw that God is trying to show me HIS absolute faithfulness in all the little things, not condemn me about mine and the lack thereof.

Oh, hallelujah.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 16:10