Think Big, Start Small, Go Deep

There was this seven-year old boy in elementary school that used to come up to all the high school students during lunch period. He would block your way by standing before you as you lined up for your meal. With sad puppy eyes, a toothless grin, and both hands outstretched and quivering he’d jump in place and cry out in a wee raspy voice, “Can I have a big twenty-five?” And he’d stand there in eager anticipation with his knock-knees shaking until you gave up that one shiny coin. Time and again I’d witness my classmates laugh out loud, dig deep into their pockets, and hand him a twenty-five centavo coin. This kid wasn’t interested in peso bills. He would pass up on all the smaller duller looking coins. For him, the twenty-five centavo coin was the biggest coin among all the loose change floating around the cafeteria. And he would persistently play his part until he got you to part with the prize he was after. In my mind’s eye, I can still see this kid do his thing as he begs for yet another shiny coin. With sad puppy eyes, a toothless grin, and both hands outstretched and quivering he’d jump in place and cry out in a wee raspy voice, “Can I have a big twenty-five?”

This study series will focus on God’s calling upon each of our lives. As we follow Jesus Christ, our journey commences with a big vision that starts with a small beginning and deepens with lasting results. This is a three-part process that will challenge us to think big, start small, and go deep.

I. Think Big

At such a young age, this seven-year old boy had a big vision—to fill his pocket full of shiny big twenty-fives. From all eternity, God has had a big vision—to fill his world full of shining saints saved to serve him“from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev 5:9b).

Look Ahead. Early on in the book of Genesis, God set Abraham apart from his own people. He had big plans for Abraham. Abraham was God’s shiny big twenty-five coin in a world full of dark faithless characters. In 12:1-3 God had Abraham stretch his vision by having him “look ahead” saying, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Look Around. Sometime later Abraham parted ways from his nephew Lot. Lot chose to live in the plain of the Jordan while Abraham depended upon God to settle him in the Promised Land. God called Abraham once he arrived in the land of Canaan. God wanted him to think big. He asked him to raise his eyes in order to share his big vision with him. In 13:14-16 God had Abraham “look around” the place from which he stood saying, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.”

Look Above. Then one evening while Abraham thought deeply about his childless state and the promised son that never came to pass God came to him in a vision. In 15:5 God brought Abraham outside his tent to show him the mother of all visions. God had him “look above” into the night sky saying, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then God said to Abraham, “So shall your descendants be.”

Not only does God have a big vision, but he also seeks to bring us in on it, as he did with Abraham. This big vision for our lives doesn’t come upon us all at once. Like Abraham, the visions visited him in successive intervals while he learned to trust and know God every step of the way. God lead him through a relational process and revealed his big vision for Abraham as his faith and obedience steadily grew. Likewise, God sets us apart from a life we once knew by calling us to look ahead. He then settles us anew in a life dependent upon him by calling us to look around. And finally he sows us into the lives of others by calling us to look above, count for the impossible, and grow toward this vision.

God has a big vision for our lives. It is a vision that calls us to look ahead, look around, and look up. It is a vision that sets us apart, settles us anew, and sows us into the lives of others. It is a vision that draws us, embraces us, and fulfills our very lives. It is a vision that gives our lives purpose and meaning. Our lives are not human accidents waiting to happen but divine plans waiting to come to pass. Could it be that in a world full of dark faithless men and women you are one of God’s shiny big twenty-fives? Are you found kept and treasured in his divine pocket ready to be spent as he wills it? Would you be willing to be a part of God’s shining investment in order to fulfill his big vision?

Look ahead toward the place that God has called you to. Look around your city, over the place where you work, live and play—the land where you’ve settled. Look above to God in the heavens and ask him what is it that he wants to do through you? Why not pray that God will open your eyes to see his big vision? Ask him to use your life to affect people in your part of the world. Like a single drop of rain that causes the water to ripple outward in concentric circles, may that be the image of your life as it impacts the following generations. Think big enough that you know you cannot accomplish this vision, so that when it does come to pass, God alone will get the glory. God says in Isaiah 48:10-11, “See, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tested you in the furnace of adversity. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for why should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

Continued on: http://hubpages.com/hub/Think-Big-Start-Small-Go-Deep-Part-2

© 2009, Gicky Soriano. All rights reserved.