Small Beginning
‘Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.’ Job 8:7
A small seed will grow to a large tree. A small germ can develop into a deadly disease. A small hole in the bottom of a boat can sink it. The small sin of Adam and Eve caused terrible results.
Many times we do not pay attention to small things that are happening. They seem so insignificant to us; yet they will develop into great things if they are allowed to grow, whether they are good or bad.
We may ignore the little oil warning light in the car dashboard but the result can be a bumecl out motor.
Parents may ignore the little misbehaviour in their small children, thinking that they will outgrow it later when they grow bigger. But on the contrary, this little misbehaviour will grow into a great disobedience or even into a criminal activity if allowed to continue. For this reason many Christian parents have lost their children to the world.
There was a little boy in Holland who saw water leaking from a small hole in the cement dike. He put his finger into the hole to stop the leak because he knew that if allowed to continue, it will grow bigger and bigger and finally will break the protective dike and cause a great flood. For hours he kept his finger in the hole until help came to repair the leak.
In February 1953 the protective dike did break and almost half a million acres of land were flooded and 1835 people drowned. It was one small decision that Eve did; to walk to ;he tree of knowledge. She had no intention to disobey God. She only wanted to satisfy her curiosity – she just wanted to look at the tree. But by looking, a desire was aroused, and the desire brought sin.
Now to return to faithfulness, it is not just one decision that we make, but 1000 decisions daily. Constantly we are tempted by Satan and by our friends and by our own flesh to do sin.
Our Christian life is like walking on the road. Every obedience is a step closer to heaven, and every disobedience is a step away from God. And whatever we do a few times will become a habit which then forms our character.
One selfish or vain thought is a step in the wrong direction. It prepares a way for a second wrong thought and soon our conversation becomes vain and eventually it will lead to wrong actions. The small beginning sets us in the downward direction separating us further and further from God.
Many will try to still their guilty conscience with the thought that God will forgive, he is merciful. Yes, God has promised to forgive when we repent and confess our sins, but the damage to our characters cannot be repaired in a moment.
If you have acted selfishly 1000 times it has left deep grooves, like ruts in your haracter, and one act of kindness will not erase them all. Yet the one act of kindness can be the small beginning that leads into greater sacrifices and finally your character has changed from selfishness to unselfishness.
“God has given us our intellectual and moral powers, but to a great extent every person is the architect of his own character. Every day the structure is going up… Every act of life, however unimportant, has its influence in forming a character. A good character is more precious than worldly possessions, and the work of forming it is the noblest in which men can engage.’
“Characters formed by circumstance are changeable and discordant – a mass of contraries. Their possessors have no high aim or purpose in life. They have no ennobling influence upon the characters of others. They are purposeless and powerless.” Test. V. 4 p. 656-657
Peter denied Christ three times. He did it from an old habit to protect himself in a danger. This is how many will act in the time of the Sunday law and in the time of persecution. Without thinking or planning on it, their characters can betray them in the time of danger, unless they go through the process of systematic character change before it.
The small daily tests that we pass through develop our characters. The great tests in the end reveal what our characters are. If we are not faithful in the least we will not be faithful in much either. (Luke 16:10)
To change our characters to Christlikeness requires continual prayer connection with God and strict obedience to His law. Also we must follow the example of Jesus in unselfish labour for others. Daily Bible study and continuous reading of the Spirit of Prophesy books is also necessary. Faithfulness in Health Reform and proper Sabbath keeping will help our character development. If we neglect any of these we will not have characters fit for heaven.
Our goal is perfection of character. It can be reached step by step in little experiences that we go through daily.
“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” 1 John 3:3.
This pure character is our passport to heaven.
“The angels of God, seraphim and Cherubim, the powers commissioned to co-operate with human agencies, look on with astonishment and joy, that fallen men, once children of wrath, are through the training of Christ developing characters after the divine similitude, to be sons and daughters of God, to act an important part in the occupations and pleasures of heaven.” T.M. p. 18
Also Satan is astonished that all his temptations and efforts fail to turn these men, women and children away from their faithfulness to God; that they would rather die than commit the smallest sin.
All this starts from a small beginning and then daily adding to it a sinner is changed to a saint.
Zechariah writes, “For who hath despised the day of small things?” Zech.4:10
The small incidents in our daily life are God’s mediums to perfect us to His own likeness.
May the Lord help us to see the value of these small things in life and be faithful in them, that we may be prepared to face the greater tests which soon will come upon us.
AMEN