Pastor’s Corner | Small seeds reap large crops

— I find myself contemplating the significance of small decisions and actions. How important are many of the small decisions we make on a daily basis. In the grand scheme of things, do most of our thoughts, actions and decisions really matter much?

It would seem to be a given that the major decisions and actions in our lives have significant impact on our lives and the lives of those around us. But what of the seemingly smaller stuff?

In one sense, the obvious answer would seem to be no. My choice between which pants to wear today will not have significant consequences. In our culture where we are inundated with an outrageous number of choices about so many mundane things, it’s a given that a good many of these options are irrelevant. But, I suggest that in reality there is much more to it than just these irrelevant things.

Allow me to share some things that have set me on this course of reflection.

Consider this verse from the The Message version of the New Testament: “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” Philippians 4:8

This verse is right in the midst of a passage that talks about experiencing peace that is beyond human explanation. So, just how important are the small things we think about all day? The things we allow into our minds? The words we say?

Do you suppose they actually have the potential to impact us in larger ways?

I suspect you’ve heard this before. Sow a thought, reap an act, sow an act, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap a character, sow a character, reap a destiny.

Do you suppose there really is a sowing and reaping principle that impacts us in ways we often fail to realize? Consider this verse: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7 (New International Version)

Is it possible that we are sowing with seemingly small thoughts, actions and decisions we’re making on a daily basis? Sowing in ways that could result in significant crops for us, our children, our community and our world, that we would not have expected?

C.S. Lewis in his book, “Mere Christianity,” makes this statement: Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.

The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.

I encourage you to consider how your seemingly insignificant thoughts, actions and decisions might be seeds that will result in a crop. Be aware of your words. Consider how you love and care for people.

Consider how you live out what you talk about believing. I suggest that much of what we have passed off as insignificant is in fact of consequence.

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Editor’s note: Al Fowler is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Pea Ridge.

He can be contacted at 451-8192, or by e-mail at al@ prfbc.org.

Religion, Pages 2 on 09/15/2010