Pastor James Merritt said, ‘The other day I asked my beautiful wife if she married me for my looks.’ She replied, ‘No, I married you for your brains – it’s the little things that count!’ Merritt was joking of course. What really counts in life is faithfulness in little things; it’s how dependability begins, grows, and matures. Longfellow wrote, ‘Most people would succeed in small things if they weren’t troubled with great ambition.’ Sometimes we think we’re too big for small things; we would rather get on with what we perceive as bigger, more important matters. But here is how Jesus sees it: ‘Anyone who can be trusted in little matters can also be trusted in important matters. But anyone who is dishonest in little matters will be dishonest in important matters. If you cannot be trusted with this wicked wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? And if you cannot be trusted with what belongs to someone else, who will give you something that will be your own?’ (vv. 10-12 CEV). If you want to succeed on the job, come to work on time; stick with the job until it’s finished; when you see something that needs to be done, do it – even if it’s not in your job description. Give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; take your designated lunch break, not a three-hour paid holiday; report your expenses truthfully; support the team; and uphold the company’s reputation (however, if there is a genuine problem in this area, you should consider speaking out). In other words, be faithful on the job: ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might’ (Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV). That’s the kind of faithfulness God honours.
