Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

Small is big when packed with power. We develop sayings around this truth, like: “Dynamite comes in small packages … Though small, he carries a big punch … Yard by yard, life is hard but inch by inch, life is a cinch.“  These and other phrases reveal our awareness that value is sometimes best measured by content rather than volume, meaning that small is the best possible size for that particular creation, and that it is not necessary for “it” to become bigger than what it already is. 

There is another truth application for “when small is big.” And that is when small is an indication of big things to come.  Like the first appearance of a thundercloud.  Like the tipping point for when one seemingly small event, connected to many other events, repositions our life to where we know we will never be the same. Like when Jesus held a mustard seed before his audience, and challenged them to see the seed for what it was meant to become … That the smallest of all seeds in Israel possessed the potential to become the biggest plant in the land.  This seed, if planted and properly nourished, would grow to the actual size of a tree - big enough give birds a perching place.  Remarkable.

Jesus further illustrated the remarkable nature of God released potential when he spoke of leaven’s power to transform bread from the inside out.  The leaven (yeast) works as the growth agent within the dough, enabling more bread to be formed than would be the case without the leaven.

Through these two small parables, Jesus explained how the Kingdom of God grows from the gospel. That what was seemingly insignificant to the Roman Empire was actually the leaven that would change the Empire from the inside out.  That what seemed unimportant, a poor carpenter from Nazareth, was actually the Messiah.  This gospel is the mustard seed, that when planted in the soil of fertile souls will produce harvests - thirty, sixty, a hundred times beyond what seemed possible. 

Babies display the power of arriving small. T heir size is just right for the mother’s womb, and upon arrival, to be held in her arms.  Their small hands and feet are wonders to behold.  We oooh and ahhh while babies cooo.  Their beauty and innocence release from within us our childlikeness.  We find ourselves acting in ways labeled “silly” because we are searching for the tone & language the baby before us will understand and trust.  Our effort to reach down into our own “innocence” is part of what Jesus was referring to when he said “that unless we become like children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

We are born with the fresh innocence of being made in God’s image.  The innocence of our infancy is a beginning not the completion.  We are also born affected by a sin-sick world from which we cannot heal ourselves.  Consequently, a person’s new life in Christ is called being “born again” (John 3:1-18) which can also be translated “being born from above.”  Through the a,b,c’s of accepting our need for new birth, believing in Christ as the giver of new birth, and committing ourselves to live from our new birth – we can know the absolute joy of being born again. 

Small is big when packed with gospel power. Once we are born again, this power is released by: 1) our ongoing awareness of God’s potential in our lives; 2) our acting on the potential, and; 3) our releasing the growth to enrich others – and thereby grow the Kingdom of God. 

Be Strong & Courageous,

Pastor Les Hollon

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
-Leo Buscaglia

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

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