[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Flittle-things":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Flittle-things-surround":63},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":45,"date":46,"description":16,"extension":47,"image":48,"meta":49,"minRead":50,"navigation":51,"path":52,"postType":53,"publication":54,"publicationUrl":48,"seo":55,"stem":56,"topics":57,"__hash__":62},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Flittle-things.md","Little Things",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"Revelation",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":41},"minimark",[13,17,20,23,26,29,32,35,38],[14,15,16],"p",{},"Back in the era when people communicated long distance by telegraph, a woman traveling in Europe sent a telegram to her husband. She wanted to purchase a diamond bracelet, but it was quite an expensive piece of jewelry. \"What do you think?\" she wired her spouse. \"Should I buy it?\" Her husband immediately wired back, \"No. Price too high!\" However, the telegraph operator accidentally left out the period, and the message she received was, \"No price too high!\" Surprised but pleased, she bought the jewelry.",[14,18,19],{},"Little things can make a big difference—even something as small as a dot on a page. Yet, we tend to overlook little things because our culture is enamored with bigness. Go to a big store and you can buy a big-screen TV to go in your big house. Go to a big stadium and watch a big game played by big athletes. Go to a big restaurant and eat a big meal (and pay a big bill). Go to a big church building and listen to a big-name preacher talk about a big issue.",[14,21,22],{},"Jesus, though, paid a lot of attention to little things. He wasn't against bigness; he just re-defined it.",[14,24,25],{},"A poor widow put two tiny copper coins into the temple treasury—a little act, but a huge sacrifice in Jesus' eyes. He compared faith to a mustard seed, a kernel of potential powerful enough to move mountains. He used a little child as a visual aid to illustrate greatness in the kingdom of God. He told a little group of a dozen men to take his message to the world, and when they did, the church exploded with growth from the Day of Pentecost onward. He told the church in Philadelphia, \"I know you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name\" (Revelation 3:8).",[14,27,28],{},"If you have a godly mother, she understands the importance of little things. She loved you when you were just a little thing yourself. During pregnancy her body grew bigger along with yours, and so did her love for you. She made a big deal out of your crayon drawings and displayed them proudly on the refrigerator door. When you were hungry, she fed you. When you were sick, she stayed near your bedside. When you were tempted to stray from the Lord, her love was a magnet to pull you back.",[14,30,31],{},"Women do lots of big things with their lives. They are doctors, lawyers, missionaries, teachers, musicians, artists, and athletes. They make a difference in business, government, and the church. Yet, there's no higher calling than the role of a mother who loves her family deeply and nurtures her children well.",[14,33,34],{},"A caring mom devotes some of her best years to a multitude of little things: diapers, homework, lunches, laundry. To her children, she's an encyclopedia to answer questions, a medic to bandage skinned knees, an arbitrator to resolve disputes. She's a counselor who stays up late when her teenager needs to talk. She's a cheerleader who attends Little League games, not because she's such a big baseball fan but because she's a big fan of the little guy in right field. She's aware of her imperfections, but she entrusts her children to the perfect Father in Heaven.",[14,36,37],{},"A mom lives daily on the front lines of spiritual battle. She shapes worldviews more than any philosopher or political leader. Her love provides a safe harbor in an ocean of insecurity. A godly mother is a disciple-maker, influencing her children to become responsible, mature servants of God.",[14,39,40],{},"And that's no little thing.",{"title":42,"searchDepth":43,"depth":43,"links":44},"",2,[],"First Look","2002-05-12","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Flittle-things","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":16},"articles\u002Flittle-things",[58,59,60,61],"Church Leadership","Biblical Theology","Intergenerational Ministry","Discipleship","gFyFpDMqHpicEpDdx1tmhIF3vBko3RS-rdCL4I4x2RY",[64,69],{"title":65,"path":66,"stem":67,"description":68,"children":-1},"Little Tastes of Honey","\u002Farticles\u002Flittle-tastes-of-honey","articles\u002Flittle-tastes-of-honey","You and I have sugar at our fingertips in the kitchen and in every restaurant, but in biblical times honey was the only sweetener around. In the land of milk and honey, a proverb said, “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24).",{"title":70,"path":71,"stem":72,"description":73,"children":-1},"Live Like You Believe It","\u002Farticles\u002Flive-like-you-believe-it","articles\u002Flive-like-you-believe-it","“They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him” (Titus 1:16, *New International Version*). What an indictment of phony faith! The apostle Paul warned Titus to watch out for religious influencers who claim to believe in God, but whose actions don’t match their words."]