Matthew 9: 9, Matthew 7: 24-27, Song of Solomon 2: 15

Jeff Cutts

Have you ever noticed how little things make a big difference? Like perhaps a small stone in your shoe? Some dust in your eye? (ouch!)

There are little things we do which set the course of our lives - little things can have a great impact, Here are just two little things to think about.

A little off course...

If you were to fly around the world... Did you know that if you are off course by just one degree then for every mile that you travel you get 92 feet further away from the right heading? That means about one mile off target for every sixty miles travelled. So... If you decided to start at the equator and fly around the earth, one degree off would land you almost 500 miles off target.

The longer you travel off course, the further you will be away from your target. Think about this from both practical and spiritual points of view... Is one degree off course acceptable? One degree off could be the difference between making it to an airport or going down in the ocean!

What is our tolerance for being off course? When things go wrong and fail in our lives they usually do not fail overnight. A relationship, our school work or career does not just suddenly fail - failure generally comes from a series of small, correctable failures - 'one degree off course' sorts of failures, little bad habits or little things we neglect.

Living as a Christian means following Jesus - making Him your compass - Jesus said to His first disciples "follow me" (Matthew 9: 9) and they left what they were doing and followed. They grew into people who became changers of the world! A key to avoiding these 'one degree off course' failures is to listen to and follow Jesus. Following is not just hearing the words and agreeing though, it's not just understanding and thinking that what He says is right; it is putting those things into practice. If we do as we are taught, it's like following the right course, or like building our lives on a firm foundation... (Matthew 7: 24-27)

Jesus is calling you to follow Him - it is your decision as to whether you follow Him or not. If you do decide to follow Jesus then you need to commit to follow Him and to commit to finding out where He is going so you can follow!!

Read the Bible and find out what He says - have a look at the books of Matthew / Mark / Luke / John - if you read what Jesus said and did and take Him seriously then you'll see that following Jesus is a bit different to living as we're expected to in the world! Much the better though!! Following Jesus, committed to Him and obedient to Him will help you in your relationships, life and work, here and now and also for all eternity!

Little foxes...

'Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.'
(Song of Solomon 2: 15)

Song of Solomon is a love story and it speaks to us about the relationship of Jesus and the Church. The loving relationship is spoken of as a fruitful vineyard and here we're told there are 'little foxes' that ruin the vineyard - there are little things that ruin our relationship with God.

There are things which can distract us from following Jesus and seek to destroy our relationship with God. The Bible says that 'the devil roams around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour...' (1 Peter 5: 8) Jesus teaches us to pray, 'deliver us from evil, lead us not into temptation' (Matthew 6: 13). The Bible says about temptation, 'if you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.' ( 1 Corinthians 10: 13)

We are warned to look out for the little sins that will ruin our love for God, don't tolerate them! Maybe you think that the small things don't matter, like a little white lie, some of the the things we allow ourselves to be involved in seem harmless enough. Imagine it like this; if I was to wrap a piece of cotton around your arms you could easily break it, I couldn't hold you hostage; but if you allowed me to wrap the cotton around you again and again and again, over time each new thread adds strength to the cotton and pretty soon it would be difficult to break. You would be held hostage if wrapped enough times, and you'd need some help to escape!

In the same way little sins that we think don't matter too much can have a habit of become too big to handle over time and we find ourselves held hostage by them, so be alert and keep coming to God and look for the way out of temptation.

We will make mistakes, miss the mark, we will sin. God's answer is for us to tell Him about our sin, to confess it to Him and to receive forgiveness and be cleaned from all unrighteousness (1 John 1: 9). As we follow Jesus though we change, His life grows within us, our minds are changed - cleaned up - the Bible says our minds are 'renewed'.

'And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.' (Romans 12: 1-2)

I pray that you choose to follow Jesus. Commit yourself to following Him and finding out how to do so. Learn to recognize when you are going one degree off course, or when the thin threads of sinfulness and worldliness are beginning to bind you and trap you and may the little things in your life have a great impact as you stay on course and stay alert.