Mountains and Molehills

When my daughter Michelle was a girl in elementary school, she enjoyed walking around the exhibit area during the North American Christian Convention picking up candy and other samples at the displays. One time she excitedly ran up to me holding a red helium-filled balloon tied to a string. Suddenly the balloon slipped out of her hand and soared toward the high ceiling of the convention center.

Michelle burst into tears. I hugged and consoled her, then watched her walk away again to explore the treasures of the exhibit hall—this time determined to hang onto her treasures with a firmer grip.

A friend standing nearby who had watched my encounter with my daughter looked at me and said, “Isn’t that what happens with us and God? Something disappointing happens and we think it’s the end of the world, but the Lord knows everything is going to be all right.”

It’s hard to see the big picture. A lingering illness, the loss of a job, a quarrel with a friend, a business downturn, or a rough season at church can seem like a major defeat and cause for despair. But God’s ways are higher than our ways, his thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). What we see as a terrible thing God can use for good. Worries that seem overwhelming to us may be relatively unimportant in the overall scheme of life.

How can we distinguish mountains from molehills? It’s likely to be a molehill if it currently dominates the news but will be forgotten a year from now . . . if it’s a matter of personal opinion rather than a “thus saith the Lord” . . . if it’s a temporary tribulation or a passing fad.

It’s likely to be a mountain if the Bible says it plainly and repeatedly . . . if Jesus considered it a big deal . . . if it’s directly connected to the gospel that saves us . . . if thoughtful Christians have believed and practiced it from generation to generation . . . if it will still matter 100 or even 1,000 years from now. God’s grace is a mountain; whether or not I like the songs chosen by the worship leader—that’s a molehill. Eternal life is a mountain; temporary sufferings and set-backs are molehills.

For many years Jack Ballard led Mount Carmel Christian Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia. One year before Jack’s death in 2007 he wrote a letter to his close friend, Wayne Smith, who enjoyed a lengthy tenure as the senior minister of Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky. Wayne shared with me a copy of Jack’s letter and permission to share it. Here’s what Jack wrote to his long-time friend:

The wave of change comes as relentlessly as ocean tides. You and I have seen a lot of it. We’ve been part of it. Now I am old and adjusting to it is extremely difficult. I really believe the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Lord’s church in the face of changes these young preachers are bringing. It has survived you and me.

Ah, yes, I don’t like the informality. I don’t like the new music. I don’t like the long hair and no socks. I don’t like the ear rings. I don’t like Saturday night services. I don’t like the darkened auditoriums. I don’t like applause. I don’t like silly dramas. I don’t like words on a screen. I don’t like the preacher not sitting on the platform. I don’t like backup singers. I don’t like ball-caps in church. I don’t like men serving the Lord’s Supper in short sleeves. I don’t like people holding up their hands. I don’t like the* NIV* as much as the King James Version. I don’t like . . .

Whoa, all the above would be classified as opinions, right? Here I am, an old man, wanting the world to adjust to my likes and dislikes. The big question is, ‘Is Christ being preached? Is the Lord’s Supper being served? Is baptism still performed in the ancient and biblical way? Is the Lord still exalted? Is the Bible still accepted as authoritative? Are elders still being honored as men of integrity? Are people being won to Christ?’ The answer is ‘Yes.’

Wayne, our friends miss us, and they miss the way it was. We, however, need to give the new guys a chance. I don’t think they’ll mess it up too much. Apparently we didn’t.

Even more impressive is a letter written by the apostle Paul. He was scrutinized, criticized, and brutalized for preaching the gospel, but he still had the faith to say, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Four our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Paul fixed his eyes on the mountain. May we do the same—even when our treasures seem to be slipping out of our hands.