Below is an excerpt from Chuck McAlister's devotional, Adventures in God's Country. Available free with a purchase of a NIV, ESV or NLT "blue" or "camo" full Bible, in stock .
Several years ago, I was winding up a week-long hunting trip in Colorado, and I was disappointed that I had not been able to bag a bull elk. I not only had a bull elk tag, but also a mule deer tag, and I thought that I would, at least, get a good-sized buck, even if I didn’t get an elk. The hunt, however, had been unsuccessful. The mule deer season had gone out the day before, and I had not seen an elk to date. As dusk was fading into twilight, I decided it was time to head back to camp.
Just as I was walking along the edge of the woods, a movement in the meadow near the woods caught my eye. I immediately dropped to my knee and saw the largest buck mule deer I had ever seen, or hoped to see, in my life. My heart began to race. The deer was well within range, and the crosshairs on my scope were at exactly the right place. I had the deer tag in my pocket. I could pull the trigger, take this trophy buck, and no one would ever have to know that I had harvested this deer the day after the season went out.
I clicked off the safety and began to squeeze the trigger, when, suddenly, something interrupted me. It was a scripture verse, of all things, that I had memorized as a child. I tried to ignore it, but there it was, not just whispering but screaming its truth. It just wouldn’t go away.
Luke 16:10 says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (NIV).
I couldn’t believe that verse was screaming in my heart. Then I thought about my sons: what would I want them to do in this situation? Then I thought about my church family, my community in Christ: what would they think if they found out that I had made this compromise? Then I thought about my wife: what would she say? Then I thought about the Lord: what would He say?
I knew what He would say. He had already shown me His Word on the matter. Very quietly, I clicked my safety back on, lowered my rifle, and sat for the next fifteen or twenty minutes watching the biggest buck I’d ever seen quietly graze not more than 100 yards from me. My decision was made. In the scheme of things in the world, it was a small decision, but it was also an important one. That day I was reminded of an important lesson. Little things do matter; in fact, they are very important.
It’s not the big things, the big decisions, that bring discouragement or despair or that destroy marriages, relationships, businesses, or even lives. It’s the small things. It’s those small decisions that we make. Song of Solomon 2:15 says that it is “the little foxes that spoil the vines.” It’s those little things that can undo you the quickest.
I was reading recently about a huge tree that collapsed not too far from where I was hunting in Colorado. It was estimated to be over 400 years old. Over the centuries it had been struck by lightning fourteen times. It had braved countless storms of tremendous intensity, and it even survived an earthquake that had devastated the region. What caused this mighty guardian of the forest to fall? What was it that finally destroyed it? It was a beetle, a tiny bug, just a little thing.
We think we build our character and trust with others around us in one big moment, by making one big impression. It’s actually just the opposite. It’s the small, intimate details of our relationships and our choices in life that really shape who we are. In fact, Jesus told us that we can greatly simplify our lives by making one small, but important decision: Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Recently, I was reminiscing about my passing up that big buck, and I have to admit that I was thankful that it wasn’t hanging on my wall. I believe it would have served as a continual reminder of the day that I decided to be dishonest in something that seemed trivial. I pulled down my Message paraphrase of the Bible and I reread what God had spoken to my heart that day:
If you’re honest in small things,
you’ll be honest in big things;
If you’re a crook in small things,
you’ll be a crook in big things.
If you’re not honest in small jobs,
who will put you in charge of the store? (Luke 16:10)
Character really does matter, and it can be seen best in the small choices that we make in life. Maybe I’ll take that big buck someday. In the meantime, the memory of the one I passed up will serve as a reminder that it’s the little things, those small choices, that really shape who we are.
That’s the truth…about those “little things,” in God’s country.
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