NOTHING TOO SMALL
‘She hath done what she could.’
But you say, ‘Were the early workers for Christ not for the most part employed in such great works as the conversion of the heathen or the ministry of the word? The very grandeur of their pursuits gave a dignity to their life; while my mind is distracted by the innumerable littlenesses and fretting interruptions of life.’
I.—This objection is more apparent than solid.—We view their life as a whole, and therefore our impressions of it have an air of completeness; but, could we descend to the particularities of every day, could we stand by St. Paul in the workshop at Corinth, we should discern how it was principle carried out into the smallest matters that gave unity to their course.
II. Nothing is trivial with God that is a test of character. The plucking of an apple brought sin and death into the world. A cup of cold water, rightly given, shall not lose its reward. ‘The Lord weigheth the spirits’ (Proverbs 16:2) day by day, in the even balances of infinite wisdom. He is weighing our spirits to see what judgment we shall form, or how we shall speak, or act, in the varying circumstances of every hour.
III. God does not require the administration of talents which He has not bestowed; but every day may some holy disposition be fostered, some winged prayer be breathed, some gracious word be dropped. And none of these things elude His observation, Who said of the lowly Mary, ‘She hath done what she could.’
Bishop E. H. Bickersteth.