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Little Things Mean A Lot
Several years ago now Kitty Kallen, a popular singer of her day, had a hit record called Little Things Mean A Lot. I can still see the recording going around on the turntable at the radio station where I worked. It was a very simple lyric, affirming that little things in life and love are the things that really mean the most. How true it is. Everything we do is connected to small, simple, little things. Life itself is composed of little things. Days are comprised of hours, hours of minutes, minutes of seconds. Weeks are made up of days, months of weeks, and years of months. The ocean is only drops of water and the beach only grains of sand. Who would dare deny that little things mean a lot?
A little careless moment can mean a lifetime of sorrow. I know of no one who ever set out deliberately to become and alcoholic. He just took a drink. Then another, and another, and so on, until he woke up one morning addicted to alcohol. And did you ever ear of anyone we set out to be a drug addict? No, that just wanted to “try it.” One thing is sure: nobody ever became and alcoholic who never took the first drink. And there never was a person addicted to drugs who never took the first “upper” or smoked that first “joint.” Little things do mean a lot.
The same is true of many problems in the church today. I never knew any Christian who just woke up one Sunday morning and decided that from that day forward he was not going to attend the services of the church. It happens gradually–a little miss at a time. He first misses a little before he misses a lot. One thing is certain, however: the person who just won’t allow anything to stand in the way of his attending the services will never becomes a backslider regarding his attendance. The same thing may be said of a host of problems relating to indifference and lethargy. They happen a little at a time. Fact is, little things do mean a lot.
Little words can do great harm. Some people don’t even try to harness the power of their tongue. They just throw their minds into neutral and let their tongues idle on! Did you know that wars have been started by just a small, poorly-chosen word? Great men have been destroyed because of someone’s unguarded word. A small word, born of envy, anger, or covetousness, is so great that it can destroy a person whose reputation has been a lifetime in the making. I don’t know of a single person who would openly admit to being a gossip. And yet they are around. Some folks are seemingly not happy until they are bearing about some sort of tale about somebody. And isn’t it strange that an experienced gossip can take some good thing that has happened to someone and make a bad tale even of that? And do you not think it odd that when someone else spreads a tale, he is a gossip, but when I tell it, it becomes a simple matter of fact? We need to guard this little member of our body much more carefully than we do. “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth” (James 3:5).
A little care can grow into great good. How great it is to have people in the Lord’s church who have even a small amount of care for others. But how much greater if there were more people who care enough for the souls of lost men to tell them of the Savior. For instance, if each person cared enough about lost souls to bring just one person to Christ in the next twelve months, the church would double in size in the next year. I aver that this can be accomplished. In II Timothy 2:2, Paul told the young preacher, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnessers, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.” Conversion, folks, happens just one person at a time.
Personal spiritual growth comes about in small increments. Cancer is growth out of control–not good strong maturity; it takes place a little at a time. A person has to first begin, and then keep on keeping on if he is to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (I Peter 3:18). Just a little Bible knowledge each day, each week, each year contributes to the spiritual maturation process (I Peter 2:1-3). You have to try hard–a little at a time.
The work of the Lord is the most important work on earth. But that work will not be accomplished with big schemes or great promotional projects, nor will it be done with bedazzling entertainment or “feel-good” preaching. It will be accomplished one day at a time, and a little at a time. But one thing must be realized: every person is part of this work and everyone of us must be about the doing of it–one day at a time, one person at a time. Fact is, if we will take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.
Be impressed: Little things mean a lot. So, “Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).
