Stop Overlooking the Small Yeses God is Celebrating

Our society values the big and the bold. We see worth in the number of followers, awards, or accolades. We think success depends on a dollar sign or the number of degrees a person has.

If we aren’t careful, we can transfer these beliefs into our faith. The truly spiritual are the Bible study writers, the podcast speakers, the mega-church leaders, and even the pastors in our churches.

We read stories of Heroes of the Faith and are inspired to do big things for God, yet aren’t willing to complete small acts of obedience for Him.

We need to reframe success as faithfulness, not visibility. God values our acts of obedience no matter how small. All of the unnoticed “yeses” that we quietly offer to our Lord may not be recognized by anyone else, but they are of great value in the Kingdom of God.

We need to take a good hard look at our own motives and determine whether we act in obedience to God because we love Him and love to obey Him or because we love being noticed for our works. One heart posture will lead to joy and will honor and glorify God while the other is simply a clanging symbol as scripture puts it and is without meaning.

God Sees

The first step in not overlooking the small “yeses” is to remember that God sees all. The second step is to remember that all obedience, no matter how minute, is counted as faithfulness in God’s eyes.

Scripture reminds us of this when it points to the simple yeses of a multitude of people who rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. The daily laying of stones might seem boring, and the names of those who worked on the wall are not remembered, but their efforts are just as important as the completed wall.

“For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth,” (Zechariah 4:10).

Even the man who took the initial measurements for the wall was remembered and his simple “yes” led to the rejoicing of the Lord.

God Commands

God’s love language is obedience. Mary’s response to the angel’s announcement that she was to bear the Lord was not done in public, but alone in the quiet. Her “success” ended in that child dying at the mere age of thirty-three. Yet, this disgraceful death was the most important moment in the history of the world. The culmination of her hidden thirty-three years of obediently raising Jesus, resulted in the most glorious moment. This teaches us that our views of success are not always the same as God’s.

The church in Thessalonica was reminded of the value of quiet obedience when they were instructed, “aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). This means that each moment where you choose to obey God is a moment worth celebrating. Those moments glorify God and heaven rejoices when He is glorified. When you finish an assignment on time, steward your home well, train your children correctly, serve others, speak the truth, attend church, love your spouse it all matters. You must see God as your audience, not the world.

God Rewards

Matthew 25 reminds us to seek the Lord’s declaration of, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” A servant is not a highly honored position, yet in this story we see the master giving honor to his servant. The rest of society may have looked down upon that servant, but he received the praise of His master, which was of great worth.

This is the praise we should seek. True success is knowing that God sees us as His “good and faithful servant.”

God’s rewards are what we should be seeking. Following Him faithfully is our measure of success. God sees things differently from the way the world does. He lifts the humble, He opposes the proud. He wants us to follow Him with a right heart, not flashy actions.

When we think that, “no one notices” what we are doing, we have forgotten God and the truth is that we weren’t doing it for Him in the first place. Make sure your “yeses” are for Him, and He will be cheering you on.