Small Beginnings

In Exodus 23:30, God tells the Israelites, “Little by little I will drive them [Israel’s enemies] out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.”

Slow growth is a good thing. If something grows too fast, it may actually be detrimental. If Israel took out all their enemies at once with ease and took possession of the Promised Land, would they ever have had to exercise faith and rely on God? They would have become proud and boastful, taking the credit for subduing their enemies and capturing the land. They would have never grown or matured, nor would their faith be living and real. They would have also missed out on God’s glory, power, deliverances, might, majesty, and grace. God was more interested in the hearts of His people becoming more like His and less like themselves. God is unchanging (Malachi 3:6), and the same is true today.

As believers, we have many enemies: The world, the flesh, and the devil, and all the effects of these: Fear, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, doubts, unbelief, negative thinking, to name a few. As we walk with Jesus and abide in Him, (John 15:4) His Spirit in us will subdue these enemies (Philippians 2:13), little by little, forming us more and more into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18). No baby goes from birth to adulthood overnight. When Christ is born in our hearts, the same is true (John 3:3). He is growing up in us, and as He does, we decrease as He increases (John 3:30), and we become more of our true selves, the selves we were created to be – children of The Most High God (1 John 3:1).

There are two tragedies in life – not getting our heart’s desire and getting our heart’s desire. Why is that? Because the only thing that can truly fill and satisfy the human heart is God.

In Zechariah 4:10, the scripture says, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.” Every seed has everything it needs to become a tree or flower. Inside it is equipped with everything it needs, all the materials necessary to form that finished product. In a sense, the seed already is that tree or flower, it just has to grow up into what it already is, in the same way a baby grows into an adult. If a baby is shown an image of who he or she will be in 30 years, the baby would certainly not understand what they were looking at, they would not have the capacity for it.

In John 16:12, Jesus says, “I have much more to say to you, but you can’t bear it now.” And in John 13:7, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

A baby can’t bear the weight of being a full-grown adult, nor can an acorn see or understand the oak tree that it will one day become. Back in 2020, when I first started serving dinner at the Helping Up Mission in Baltimore, I could have never known at the time that the Lord was forging in me a heart that reflected what He was interested in. “The day of small things” was a seed planted in my heart that would eventually lead to a Bible Study after our dinner service, that would then lead to me being the one who fell into leading it, and eventually grow and blossom into having such a heart for the ministry that the Lord would open the door for me to work at Central Union Mission in 2024. If I saw the future back then I wouldn’t have been able to bear or understand it, I had to grow up into it and walk with God the whole way.

Does a parent ever sit down with a toddler and tell them all about the responsibilities they will have in college or about all they will be tasked with at their first job, or the trials they will face with loss, heartbreak, disappointment, failures and successes? Of course not. The child is not able to comprehend what will be.

Everything we need to become the fullness of Christ in us is already there. It is not something we have to work for or attain. The wind, the rain, the storms, the cold, the heat, and the sunshine all grow the seed into the tree or the flower. These are circumstances we cannot control, but the Lord knows just how many storms, how much rain, how much sunshine is necessary for each individual seed to grow up into the image of Himself. With each external condition and pressure, we must rely on God, exercise faith, believe that “little by little” He is moving us forward, closer to Him, subduing our enemies, helping our roots to go down deeper (Jeremiah 17:8). This is nothing we can work for or attain. In the same way, there is nothing a child must do to earn a parent’s love. The child, by simply being who he or she already is, a son or daughter, is loved unconditionally by the parent.

We are children of the King, heirs, a royal priesthood, a chosen people (1 Peter 2:9). Everything the King has is ours, as we are His family. If we keep on recognizing who and whose we are and keep reminding ourselves to simply be who He says we are, our identity is going to be more secure, we are going to look more and more like Him, grow up more and more into that flower or tree, and He will be the one in us doing all the work (Philippians 2:13) just like the seed that has everything inside it to become the tree. The work was finished once and for all on the cross (John 19:30), now we live into and grow up into that finished work. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Are we the ones doing the work and growing ourselves from seed to tree? No, rather God is the one who has done all the work, for there is no one good except Him (Romans 3:10). Therefore, any good that we do is Him in us, and that seed is growing into the tree: the fullness and likeness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

Because we are His and He has been born in us, a seed that will become a tree, our motivations change, our desires change, and we are convicted and continually look in His direction. His sheep hear His voice (John 10:27) and not one of them will be lost (John 6:39). If you are born you can’t become unborn. In the same way, when we become believers and Christ is born in our hearts, we cannot be lost. What incredible eternal security!

“Beloved, we are [even here and] now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be [after His coming]. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will [as His children] be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is [in all His glory]” – 1 John 3:2

“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” – Philippians 1:6