The way to overcome perfectionism is to be willing to do the next thing at hand and do it well. This passage expresses that attitude: “Do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you” (I Sam. 10:7). In other words, don’t wait for special guidance to do special things; but do the thing at hand and do it in His name, for He is with you. For whatever you do, you’ll do it under His guidance; for He is with you, guiding you to do the little things in a big way.
I have received many gifts in my life –gifts that have been undeserved and that have moved me. But the smallest gift ever received had the greatest significance — the gift of a “widow’s mite” (Mark 12:41-44). It was from the wife of the president of a large international bank. She had a coin collector watch the coin auctions for a year until he found an authentic “widow’s mite” — the coin the widow threw into the treasury — her all. Jesus seeing it said she had given more than all the rich throwing in their gifts.
This coin was minted in the year 76 B.C. and has eight rays on one side and an anchor on the other — the smallest copper coin in use at that time. ust the tossing in of a copper coin was a small event, yet two thousand years later we are looking for that coin, or a similar one; for it had deep significance — out of her love for God she threw in her all. The little became the big, for it was big with meaning.
That is the atmosphere of the early Christians — they were doing little things in a big way. And we can’t forget them. Eternal meaning was in every single happening. Their actions were seed actions. When the group at Antioch “laid their hands on [Paul and Barnabas] and sent them off” (Acts 13:2), lo, we feel today the impact of this smallest of acts. If it hadn’t happened, we and our whole civilization would have been different. It was a “widow’s mite” of an act that was big with destiny. Nothing is small when it is done in Christ and for Him.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Since every happening today may be big with eternal meaning, I shall do everything as unto Him.
From the book “Mastery” by E. Stanley Jones.
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