*A blog series on what ever leader needs to be effective in serving Christ* It is amazing how important the little things are in life. I remember being a child and my Dad was teaching me how to make a "right-handed" layup on the basketball court. I was already good at the left-handed layup (because I'm left-handed) and became so angry that I could not get it! My Dad pushed me every afternoon to learn to make it because it would matter one day when I played huge defenders. I thought, "you know what, I can just do it my way and only shoot one way." As I continued to play I quickly figured out that I was starting to get blocked because I shot the wrong way. I became more driven to learn it and finally after a few months of practice I could make the shot on both sides. I learned that being faithful in the little things, I could one day play college basketball.

Why is this faithfulness in the little things important? Faithfulness is a running track towards being like Christ. The more faithful we are by obeying His Word and living it, the quicker we grow into Christ-likeness.

Faithfulness matters more than being famous. Jesus pointed this at many points in His ministry. Little things in life include, finances, attitude, thought life, hobbies and more. For those who are followers of Christ, we are called to be faithful in all areas of our life. Why? Because Jesus did. We follow Him.

"If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities." Luke 16:10 (NLT)

Jesus is in the middle of explaining the the Parable of the Shrewd Manager. The overarching theme of Luke 16 is to be faithful in the little things.

I am concerned about in the coming years is that the church is becoming more of a business than a ministry. We see it in how my generation is quickly moving towards "environments" and "quick-help-sermons" rather than doing the hard work of teaching the truth of sin, salvation and repentance. I've made a decision to never let the culture water down the raw truth of the gospel. It is not "comfortable" and easy to digest no matter how amazing the environments we create. Environments and creativity are crucial but without being faithful to God in the small things it can all come crumbling down.

We need more men to be faithful to their wives. We need more men to be faithful in the way they treat their family. We need more men to lead their family to live the gospel. We need less focus upon what we can do and more focus upon what Christ has already done through the cross! Jesus was faithful in the little things. He was pure, gracious, firm on truth, courageous, honest, forgiving, loving and faithful!

I sure need His strength to be faithful! How about you?