“There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.”
D.L. Moody was correct in his statement many years ago. Often we are motivated by praise or recognition. We want to be loved and appreciated and so we try to find “big things” to do for the Lord. We want to be the brains of the operation, when God has called us to be the fingernail or toenail.
When I looked up the purpose of fingernails/toenails online, Google wasn’t much help…couldn’t believe it! Apparently, there isn’t really much of a purpose (according to scientists). Protection to the end of our fingers, help with diagnosis of health issues by paramedics, scratch an itch, maybe? It’s just doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to most of us in our daily lives, but I must say I am glad we have them, because our hands would not only look weird without them, we wouldn’t be able to do so many things like scratch our backs, pick our nose (don’t act like you ain’t never 🤣), open a soda can, peel an orange or pick up a penny on heads. The worst part, we wouldn’t be able to get a pedicure…which is just absolutely wonderful, my friends!
The same goes for the little things we do for the Lord. Sometimes the smallest things have the biggest impact for someone who just needs to see a little bit of Jesus. The big things wouldn’t happen, without someone doing the small stuff. I don’t want to be motivated by praise from the fellow man or recognition…I want to put a smile on someone’s face, be a living example of Jesus and pay it forward somehow. God doesn’t always call you to be the “brains” and do the big things. That’s been a little hard for me in the last few years as I have been in a transition period in life/ministry/church. I have done the big things…directed VBS, taught classes and sang in the choir on Sunday. All that is great and extremely important in ministry, but I want to be more sensitive to the little things…the fingernails…those things that are overlooked, forgotten and taken for granted that God can use to further His Kingdom. God can use you in the most unexpected ways. Who would have thought that some dead cells could be so pretty when covered with some polish? That’s just like the sinner. We are dead in sin and covered in the blood…beautiful in God’s sight! You may think you are insignificant and not very useful, but God always has a purpose for where you are and how He can use you! He did say we are the body…fingernails and toenails included!
“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:27