In order to maintain a meaningful partnership with the triune God, we have to keep loving, trusting, and obeying our Father, Savior, and Comforter. Then we will recognize the right time and place to sow a seed, say the right words, show the right attitude, and fulfill a small role in the big picture. As soon as we presume to know it all, do it all, and reach it all, we fail miserably because we try to play God. We cannot convert people—only God can. However, we should not miss the opportunity to be a useful tool in His mighty hands.

In the Bible, God often used weak and apparently insignificant tools to do the job. A teenage boy is sold by his jealous brothers as slave to Egypt and he becomes governor of that country and the savior of his brothers. The liberation of Israel from slavery starts with a baby in a basket, apparently drifting aimlessly on a river. The sea and the rock were cleft by a simple shepherd’s staff, giving life to a desperate nation. Three hundred men with torches in clay jars overcame a mighty army with thousands of soldiers. A donkey’s jaw and a shepherd’s sling won crucial battles for Israel. A boy’s lunchbox fed five thousand, and a spoonful of clay opened the eyes of a blind man. Twelve simple men started the church, and a rugged cross became the symbol of the good news they spread.

The apostle Paul said that great treasures can be carried in clay jars. He applied it on Christians carrying the gospel, but it also became vividly clear when the important Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in simple clay jars after twenty centuries.

Don’t despise the day of small beginnings. When the first rudimentary wheel was made, who could grasp the role that wheels, gears, and pulleys would play in future transport and industry? When the first electric light glowed, who could forecast the illuminating results of this invention? When the first phone-call was made, who could imagine a world-wide communication network? When the first self-propelled airplane flew a few yards, who could envisage thousands of gigantic planes in the air, carrying millions of passengers? When the first car sputtered along, who could foresee the rapid increase of motorized vehicles, roads, and services? When the first computer made a simple calculation, who could predict the swift proliferation of personal computers?

When a carpenter of Nazareth died on a cross at Jerusalem, no one realized that He paid the sin-debt of humanity, and opened the way for sinners to be reconciled with their Maker—the most important moment in history.

Seemingly insignificant contacts can have major impacts. A doctor stops at a farm to ask directions, saves the life of a child dying of diphtheria, and later sees that child graduating for a fruitful career. Two students met in the waiting room of a small-town train station, and later became co-pastors of a church. One sentence of a professor opened my eyes for the importance of psychology, leading to further study and a meaningful ministry.

Questions: Have you ever felt that your influence is insignificant? Will you ascribe it to a lack of self-esteem or to a frustrated big ego? Are you satisfied with small steps in the right direction or do you want to make a big splash?