Stepping Stones

The small things add up. We all know this, have all heard it before. When the phrase draws our attention, we think about the small little blessings that brighten our day. We might also think about all the small ‘bad’ things that add up and have us believing everything is going wrong. However, how many of us think about our journey with the Lord in these terms?

“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

The journey God leads us on has many purposes, from guiding us to the right places in order to share the Gospel with the people who need to hear it to revealing what was hidden in a scripture we couldn’t get out of our mind. One of these purposes, though, is to train us into the person we were made to be, and training takes stepping stones.

The stepping stones start out small. God trusts us with something that can be easily managed to ensure we have the mindset to serve. These small stones can range from anything like helping out in the children’s area on Sunday or volunteering at a soup kitchen. We are to find the serving areas we are joyful to be apart of because of two reasons: God loves a joyful giver and if we are joyful whilst doing it we are more willing to grow in our self-discipline. These small stones are important; they build up skills and disciplines God can use further along the journey. They are the building blocks to what God has designed you to become.

When the time has come and you have been a good and faithful servant with the small things, God will slowly move you up to something bigger, then something bigger, then something bigger. He knows what you can handle. He knows what to give you and what in your life needs to go. With each stepping stone we grow. With each stepping stone He hands us more. Like a squire training to be a knight, we train to gain the muscles needed to wear the armor God knows we’ll need for what is to come in our individual lives.

If you have been faithful, He will eventually reveal to you what He wants you to strive for. That’s when the stepping stones may be bigger because the responsibility is more but your focus will become narrower. You will lose interest in some of your worldly habits and will take more interest in godly habits. You may even get rid of some of your worldly possessions because you no longer have the desire to have them. All these things are unnecessary weight, weight that you will lose as you continue to exercise in your faith.

One of the things we must never forget, however, is that our training will never end until we see Jesus again. In this life, we will continue to grow spiritually because we need to draw closer to God every day. We will continue to train all our days because the devil is constantly scheming, changing his attack.

Take heart, my friends. Where you are serving now — whether in the multimedia area during services or in another country on a mission trip — is not the end. God is still moving and He will forever do so. You may know where God wants you to go and what He wants you to become, but not understand how you are going to get from point A to point Z. Yet, there are still several letters in between and God knows how you will get there. Be patient. Trust in Him. If you follow Him as He guides you, He will bless the path you walk on and everything will fall into place.

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”

Psalm 28:7