One of the wonderful things about Jesus is that He often gives away profound spiritual principles in His everyday teaching. In fact, even that is a spiritual principle of itself; Those who walk very closely with God (and so have God’s thoughts in their mind) will often share those thoughts in off-hand comments. This is one of the significant blessings of hanging around godly people. Profound things and life-changing truths are bound to be shared through normal conversation! How much more so then, when Jesus is speaking!
In the course of teaching His disciples about the value of following Himself, Jesus says, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.” The truth of that statement is obvious to all who have entered the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. They “received” someone who told them the Gospel. They then “received” Jesus, and as a result of knowing Jesus have “received” God Most High.
Each reception – each welcome – brought on another subsequent and more significant welcome. Like a pebble thrown into still water, every decision we take has implications that ripple out. In the physical, such implications lessen as they ripple out. In the spiritual realm, those implications grow larger the further they ripple out; A decision to welcome a Gospel messenger leads to a decision to hear the Gospel, which leads to a decision to accept the Gospel, which leads to a decision to receive Jesus as Lord, which leads to one ultimately meeting and ‘receiving’ God Himself, which leads to a profoundly changed eternity. This is truth. The principle that underlies such a truth is also truth.
In the mid 1963 Edward Lorenz published a paper based on findings gathered after a startling discovery. He had previously entered some computer data into a program he was using to simulate weather patterns. It was the same data he had previous entered, but he made a single very small change to one of the twelve variables the program worked on. “To his surprise, that tiny alteration drastically transformed the whole pattern his program produced, over two months of simulated weather. The unexpected result led Lorenz to a powerful insight about the way nature works: small changes can have large consequences. The idea came to be known as the “butterfly effect” after Lorenz suggested that the flap of a butterfly’s wings might ultimately cause a tornado.” Edward’s work on chaos theory would fundamentally change the way we understand our world. Small changes can have large unintended results.
Every time we pray, there is a change in the heavenly realms. Every prayer for His Kingdom come is a piece of evidence in God’s courtroom. Every prayer for a circumstance or a need that we lift up to heaven is a scent in His nostril that calls to His mind a situation, person or place needing His action. Every prayer of praise is a fragment of a mirror that reflects some of the light of His glory to those all around.
They might be small things, and certainly from a limited human vantage point they seem insignificant things. All the same, they lead to very large consequences!
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
William Cowper
APPLICATION: Intentionality
What small change can you make to your weekly schedule that might just have an outsized impact in eternity?