{"id":2766,"date":"2020-04-22T09:12:17","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T13:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ec2-18-221-120-76.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com\/?page_id=2766"},"modified":"2020-04-22T09:12:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T13:12:17","slug":"a-little-is-enough","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/from-the-pastors\/a-little-is-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Is Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re often reminded that \u201cbigger is not better\u201d\u2014but it\u2019s a deceptively hard lesson to learn. Little kids often and easily become upset because their brother or sister got a bigger Christmas present than they did (never mind how expensive their own present was). Older kids\u2014that is, adults\u2014are easily impressed by big houses or big muscles or machines with big engines. Of course, we also learn before too long that \u201cgood things come in small packages.\u201d For example, when I bought my wife her engagement ring, that was far and away the \u201cbiggest\u201d purchase I had ever made at that point. As we get older, we learn to break free of this obsession with \u201cbigger\u201d in more subtle ways: we learn to respect the power of the mind, which has no size at all. When we get older still, we learn to respect the power of the heart.<\/p>\n

But an arena in which we tend to stay stuck in \u201cbigger is better\u201d thinking is that of our accomplishments. To put it more simply, we believe we should\u2014or wish we could\u2014\u201cdo big things.\u201d Of course, just like we know that good things come in small packages, we know (because we\u2019ve been told) that humble, \u201cunremarkable\u201d lives are often the most rewarding, and, at any rate, most real<\/em> kinds of lives. But who, in the depths of their heart, believes that? Who is content with the idea that they probably will not accomplish great things, with the idea that history probably will not remember them? How many of us cling, deep inside, to some secret dream of greatness? How many of us are secretly disappointed by the \u201cunremarkable\u201d quality of our lives?<\/p>\n

We know that it\u2019s silly to feel this way. It\u2019s obvious that we can\u2019t all be heroes. Nor can we all be vice presidents of midsize companies, or managers at the local store. Someone has to work the entry-level job. Not everyone gets to \u201creach the top\u201d before they retire. And it\u2019s pretty obvious that all of this really isn\u2019t important in the Lord\u2019s eyes. He could scarcely care less whether we made ten dollars an hour or ten thousand\u2014the value of our accomplishments completely and utterly fades in face of the significance of the spiritual choices that we make. We know this, but it\u2019s easy to forget it; that\u2019s why the Lord reminds us so often that a little is enough. He says:<\/p>\n

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He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet\u2019s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man\u2019s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold\u00a0water\u00a0in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. (Matt. 10:41-42)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This passage is about our motives for doing good things. \u201cReceiving a prophet in a prophet\u2019s name\u201d means receiving the truth because it is true; \u201creceiving a righteous man in the name of a righteous man\u201d means doing good because it is good\u2014not because we profit by doing it. To do something \u201cin a disciple\u2019s name\u201d is to do it because (even if only in a small way) we see that the Lord has taught it, and we believe that what the Lord has taught is good. A \u201ccup of cold water\u201d symbolizes just a little truth. \u201cLittle ones\u201d simply means children, but it also symbolizes innocence. When we understand these things, the teaching that \u201cwhoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple\u2026 shall by no means lose His reward\u201d becomes a powerful one. The Lord is telling us that the little spiritual gifts we offer to one another\u2014even the littlest of them\u2014are significant. When we nurture the innocent, or when we support and satisfy the innocence in another person, we\u2019re doing something powerful.<\/p>\n

These ideas are echoed in another of the Lord\u2019s teachings:<\/p>\n

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Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, \u201cLord, when did we see You hungry and feed\u00a0You,\u00a0or thirsty and give\u00a0You\u00a0drink? \u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>When did we see You a stranger and take\u00a0You\u00a0in, or naked and clothe\u00a0You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?\u201d And the King will answer and say to them, \u201cAssuredly, I say to you,\u00a0inasmuch as you did\u00a0it\u00a0to one of the least of these My brethren, you did\u00a0it\u00a0to Me.\u201d (Matt. 25:37-39)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When we do what is good, we\u2019re doing nothing less than ministering to the Lord Himself. We\u2019re bringing joy to the King of heaven and earth\u2014and how can that be insignificant? Humble acts of charity hold great things within them.<\/p>\n

When Elijah was in despair, the Lord sent an angel to bring him a little bread and a little water. And we\u2019re told, \u201c[Elijah] arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and\u00a0forty nights as far as\u00a0Horeb, the mountain of God\u201d (1 Kings 19:8). The message is that a little of God\u2019s power is all we need\u2014a little of His love and a little of His truth will see us through anything.<\/p>\n

The startling truth is that the Lord invites us to be the angels who bring these gifts. In the teachings of the New Church we\u2019re told, \u201cGod loves each and every human being; and because He cannot do good to them directly, but only indirectly by means of other people, He\u00a0therefore\u00a0breathes\u00a0into people His love\u201d (TCR \u00a7457.3). When we serve one another\u2014when we feed those who are spiritually hungry and give drink to those who are spiritually thirsty\u2014we\u2019re serving the Lord, and His power is present. To give our brothers and sisters \u201conly a cup of cold water in a disciple\u2019s name\u201d may in fact be to give them the same sustenance that the Lord gave Elijah, sustenance that turned despair into perseverance. The simplest good thing has the Lord within it. And what is more significant, more enduring, and more powerful than the presence of the Lord?<\/p>\n

\u2014Rev. Jared Buss, February 2020<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rev. Jared Buss writes about the value and importance of the little things we do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3933,"parent":17,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2766","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","blog-style1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2766\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/phoenix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}