Small enough to be useful …

Here’s a quirky reality for me: I like flying (in an airplane, of course), but I don’t like heights.

For some reason, I’m perfectly comfortable being 30,000 feet in the air, hurtling along at a few hundred miles an hour inside an aircraft. But I feel uncomfortable standing too close to the edge of a mountain or on the roof of a skyscraper.

So when I recently saw the video of a man on a hang glider as he ran off the side of a small mountain, only to take flight, I thought it looked fun … for someone else!

But the comment the man made at the end of his hang gliding flight captured my attention. He said, “You feel so small up there. It’s a good feeling to feel small.”

So true!

When we become “small” we gain perspective of the big world around us and the great God who created us, and we realize that we can never be too small for God to use, but we can be too much! It’s when we think too highly of ourselves that we get in the way of being who we fully can be for God.

The Apostle Paul addressed this issue in Romans 12:3, “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”

One of the best examples in scripture of a man measuring himself rightly is the life of Jonathan, son of Saul, who was Israel’s first king. Following the tradition of royal families would mean that Jonathan would be the next in line to be king, yet he understood that God had different plans. Jonathan knew that God was bypassing him for David to replace his father as the next king of Israel. But that was okay with Jonathan! Jonathan was content to be the friend of David instead of his ruler. All he wanted was David’s friendship, and that David would treat his family kindly. Look at Jonathan’s words in 1 Samuel 20:13b-15:

“… May the Lord be with you as he used to be with my father. And may you treat me with the faithful love of the Lord as long as I live. But if I die, treat my family with this faithful love, even when the Lord destroys all your enemies from the face of the earth.”

Jonathan was a big man who knew how to be small so that God’s will could be accomplished in his life.

Many leaders spend a great deal of time building their “personal brand” to enlarge themselves. But we can make so much of ourselves that we become “too much” for God to use. It’s when we’re honest about who we really are, in the light of Jesus Christ, that we are most effective in serving God.

Are you small enough to be used by God?

Scotty