The Big Picture

I don’t know how many of you have read, or seen, “The Pillars of the Earth”. It is quite a popular book, written by Ken Follett. It sat on my bookshelf for years, and for some reason I didn’t read it…so I watched the TV movie instead. Not my usual behavior…I tend to be the kind of person who prefers the book…oh well, I succumbed.

The idea of this blog is the “big picture”…and it ties, somehow, the book and the message I heard spoken at our Missionary Fellowship today. The central theme of both was about a cathedral…and the people involved in the process.

It is quite often hard to see the big picture in our lives. We tend to want to live for the moment, and see results right away. I have struggled with seeing the big picture myself in the last few months. I have followed the call of God, thinking that I would somehow become someone who would “make a difference” and “change the world”! Well, it doesn’t happen like we plan it. Or how we see it.

When a cathedral is built…it takes generations of builders. It takes hundreds, sometimes thousands of people…each one contributing their small part. A stonemason might get one small project, and that is what he works on for his lifetime, never seeing where it fits in the cathedral. Yet, without this piece, the cathedral wouldn’t be whole. Each individual piece can be quite insignificant, but they become part of a masterpiece. Something that makes an impact forever.

Such is our work in God’s Kingdom. We are part of the process, a building of a kingdom that started during the Old Testament times. We probably won’t see the end result during our lifetime, but we are an important part of the big picture. Our little contributions are part of the whole, and without them, there would be something missing in the kingdom.

Nothing we do, when doing it for God, is insignificant. It all matters in the end. God is the master planner and architect. He sees it all…the past and the future. We are helping Him build His kingdom, His masterpiece. It’s not about us, but it is about us being willing to be used by Him. Knowing and trusting that He sees the big picture, and we are part of it.

“With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.” (1 Corinthians 15:58 MSG)

So I need to remember this on a daily basis. Even though I feel that I am not making a difference, I am willing to be used…chiseling one stone at a time…just being the carver of one piece, and not worrying about the other pieces. Nothing I do for Him is a waste of time. One day I will be able to see how He sees it, and marvel at the wonder of it all.

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