Neglecting little things, may lead to great consequences: God’s requirements are to be respected and obeyed: there is no little sin!
“Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that He have mercy upon us. Psalm 123:2
“It is a mistake for any to suppose that they can with safety pass by the little things with indifference. In the home and in the church there are matters which are looked upon as ‘little things.’ But it is these ‘little things’ that have the great results. It is the ‘little things’ that discipline the soul, and prepare men to act with lowly-mindedness under large responsibilities.” –The Signs of the Times, October 27, 1898
“Faithfulness in little things should characterize the life, true integrity should mark all the course of action. It is the conscientious attention to what the world calls little things that makes the great beauty and success of life.” –The Youth’s Instructor, April 21, 1898
“The children of God should cultivate a keen sensitiveness to sin. . . . It is one of Satan’s most successful devices to lead men to the commission of little sins, to blind the mind to the danger of little indulgences, little digressions from the plainly stated requirements of God. Many who would shrink with horror from some great transgression are led to look upon sin in little matters as of trifling consequence. But these little sins eat out the life of godliness in the soul.” –That I May Know Him, p. 252
Nowhere in the Bible does God give the slightest tolerance for men to modify His revealed will. God says what He means to say, and He accepts nothing less than full compliance with His commandments. Some dramatic experiences are recorded in the Scriptures which emphasize this urgent truth. Two sons of the high priest offered strange fire before the Lord, and they died on the spot. God had required that they use only the sacred fire in the sanctuary during their priestly ministry. While under the influence of alcohol, to them it seemed unreasonable that one fire could not burn sacrifices as well as another fire. Using such human judgment, Nadab and Abihu disobeyed the direct command of the Lord and died. They did not understand the seriousness of violating the sanctity of that which God had set apart for a holy use. Similar arguments are used today in connection with things which have been sanctified by God. Often it is asked, “What is the difference between worshiping on the Sabbath and worshiping on Sunday? One day is just as good as the other.” The tremendous difference is that God made one day holy and wrote an unchangeable law about it on tables of stone. The day is different because it has God’s special blessing upon it. Woe to the man who touches with common hands those holy institutions of God!
Nadab and Abihu were not guilty of any rebellious defiance of their faith in other areas of their religious office. They never considered refusing to carry out the proper type of offering in the manner prescribed by the Levitical statutes. The small matter of the fire was the only command which struck them as frivolous and arbitrary while intoxicated. In that area alone, they felt justified in making a tiny change that would more easily and smoothly fit into their idea of functional worship. They reasoned that such a minor deviation in the interests of such a sanctified program could not bring any serious consequences. God would certainly not count it a sin to improve on a program to worship Him. It is thus they reasoned while under the influence of alcohol.
“God requires us to prove our loyalty to Him by unquestioning obedience. In deciding upon any course we should not ask merely whether we can see harm to result from it, but whether it is contrary to the will of God. We must learn to distrust self and to rely wholly upon God for guidance and support, for a knowledge of His will, and for strength to perform it. . . . ‘As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress,’ so should our eyes be upon the Lord our God. His commands should be received with implicit faith, and obeyed with cheerful exactness.” –Ibid., p. 252
Jehovah, the Lord says: “Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Genesis 26:5
“Parental indulgence causes disorder in families and in society. It confirms in the young the desire to follow inclination, instead of submitting to the divine requirements. Thus they grow up with a heart averse to doing God’s will, and they transmit their irreligious, insubordinate spirit to their children and children’s children. Like Abraham, parents should command their households after them. Let obedience to parental authority be taught and enforced as the first step in obedience to the authority of God.” –Reflecting Christ, p. 194
“As the mother teaches her children to obey her because they love her, she is teaching them the first lessons in the Christian life. The mother’s love represents to the child the love of Christ, and the little ones who trust and obey their mother are learning to trust and obey the Saviour.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 515
What an irony that much disobedience of God’s law takes place in the name of religion! Christ acknowledged that men would be worshiping Him while they substituted the “commandments of men” for His requirements. He rejected such worship as vain and empty. In the Sermon on the Mount, He described a large class who would seek entrance into the kingdom because they had prophesied, cast out demons, and done many wonderful works “in thy name.” Yet Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you: depart from Me.” Matthew 7:23
How can people become so blind and deceived that they feel securely saved while willfully breaking God’s commandments? In their vain worship, they bowed
regularly in prayer, sang songs of praise, and probably never missed a church service. They professed great love for God and gave moving testimonies of the same.
Does the same problem exist today? Do religious people still disobey God’s law while professing to love Him? On any given Sabbath, look around you to see what is going on. People will be ignoring the very heart commandment which God wrote on the tables of stone: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.” Exodus 20:10
Who are these people who ignore God’s Sabbath commandment? As you see them hurrying about their regular work program, pursuing their own pleasure on the seventh day, there seems to be no remorse for violating the clear command of God. Yet tomorrow many of them will be in church, praying, singing, and talking about how much they love Jesus. Where did they get their definition of love? Was it from the bumper stickers on the interstate–“Smile if you love Jesus,” “Wave if you love Jesus,” “Honk if you love Jesus”? That is not what Jesus said, is it? He declared, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15
To Obey is Better
Why do people feel secure in breaking one of the Ten Commandments? For the same reason Saul felt secure in bringing back the forbidden sheep and oxen. God had told him not to bring back anything after he defeated the Amalekites. But Saul was going to use those animals to sacrifice in his worship of God. Notice how incredibly illogic his actions are. He disobeyed in taking the animals and then tried to justify the disobedience by using the stolen animals in worshiping God. In the same way, modern church members disobey God by taking the Sabbath for their own use. Then they do like Saul and try to justify their disobedience by worshiping God in the name of what they have stolen.
God declared through the prophet Samuel, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” It is also better than all the vain worship of a thousand religious services performed in conjunction with the willful violation of His specific command. Obedience is better than anything else in revealing our love. Jesus said so. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” Disobedience is worse than anything because it is an act of disloyalty in its very nature. Observing a counterfeit day derived from the pagan worship of the sun is no more acceptable to God than Saul’s prize-winning sheep and cattle. He is not honored by disobedience, and He is especially offended by the breaking of His commandments in the name of worship.
Have you noticed that in the stories of Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah (see Numbers 26:61; 2 Samuel 6:6–7) the seemingly slight offense had to do with things God had set apart for sacred use? The fire was holy and the Ark of the Covenant was holy. Both were to be reserved and preserved for one sacred purpose only. Common hands were not to be laid on the ark and common fire was not to replace the holy fire. When those “set apart” things were treated just like common things, the judgments of God fell.
Are there sanctified things today which God has set apart for a holy use? Indeed there are. The Sabbath has been described by God as “My holy day.” Isaiah 58:13–14. That one-seventh of time has been signally blessed and commanded by God for rest and worship.
The tithe is something else which has been separated by the Word of God for a special, sacred purpose. To appropriate that one-tenth for ourselves is actually to steal from the very coffers of God. The Scriptures describe it thus: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings.” Malachi 3:8
Some people are horrified to read about the judgments which fell upon Uzzah when he touched the ark of God and upon Lot’s wife when she simply turned her head. Are tiny infractions so serious that sudden death can ensue? Does this indicate that the quantity of sin is not so significant as the quality of it? If Eve’s simple act of biting the fruit could precipitate six millenniums of planetary suffering and death, surely we dare not measure disobedience in terms of size or appearance.
No wonder, then, that Lot’s wife suffered the same terrible consequences as all others who trifled with the word of a holy God. The offense of looking back indicated a divided will. It also revealed the fact that her heart was still bound up with the affairs of a corrupt, condemned social order. Two voices were competing for her allegiance: one, the voice of the highlands—the voice of God calling her to liberty, purity, and salvation; the other, the voice of the lowlands—the voice of popularity and pleasure, the voice of Sodom. Slowly the voice from beneath gained the mastery of a badly bent conscience, and Lot‘s wife stands before us as a tragic example of a divided heart.
Jesus said, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32), and He said it to those who would live through the final traumatic moments of earth’s history. He is saying it to us right now—“Remember Lot’s wife.” We need that message. Millions are just as double-minded as Lot’s wife. They find no time to pray with their family. Like Lot’s wife, many read magazines more than the Bible, and thus they have only a superficial form of religion. Like Lot’s wife, they linger around the edges of sin—make no strong decision to go all the way in obedience to God.
“Those who seek to lessen the claims of God’s holy law are striking directly at the foundation of the government of families and nations. Religious parents, failing to walk in His statutes, do not command their household to keep the way of the Lord. The law of God is not made the rule of life. The children, as they make homes of their own, feel under no obligation to teach their children what they themselves have never been taught. And this is why there are so many godless families.” –Reflecting Christ, p. 194
We have no liberty to turn either to the right hand or to the left from God requirements (Deuteronomy 17:11, 20).
“Obedience Leads to Perfection. We cannot overestimate the value of simple faith and unquestioning obedience. It is by following in the path of obedience in simple faith that the character obtains perfection” (Letter 119, 1895). In these last days, people neglect God’s requirements especially regarding:
Sabbath day, saying: “It is just a day, no relationship with salvation and resting on Sabbath.”
Health reform (dress reform and food) saying, “these are counsels, and their non-observance cannot prevent you entering heaven.”
Tithe, marriage, etc: “we are free to do according to our choice, God will approve.”
“Obedience to every word of God is another condition of success. Victories are not gained by ceremonies or display, but by simple obedience to the highest General, the Lord God of heaven. He who trusts in this Leader will never know defeat. Defeat comes in depending on human methods, human inventions, and placing the divine secondary. Obedience was the lesson that the Captain of the Lord’s host sought to teach the vast armies of Israel—obedience in things in which they could see no success. When there is obedience to the voice of our Leader, Christ will conduct His battles in ways that will surprise the greatest powers of earth.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 140
“It is the little foxes that spoil the vines; the little neglects, the little deficiencies, the little dishonesties, the little departures from principle, that blind the soul and separate it from God.” –The Review and Herald, December 29, 1910
It is the little things of life that develop the spirit and determine the character. Those who neglect the little things will not be prepared to endure severe tests when they are brought to bear upon them. Remember that the character building is not finished till life ends. Every day a good or a bad brick is placed in the structure. You are either building crookedly or with the exactness and correctness that will make a beautiful temple for God. Therefore, in looking for great things to do, neglect not the little opportunities that come to you day by day. He who neglects the little things, and yet flatters himself that he is ready to do wonderful things for the Master, is in danger of failing altogether. Life is made up, not of great sacrifices and wonderful achievements, but of little things. Amen.
Victor Shumbusho,
Congo