Are we thinking too SMALL?


WE THINK TOO SMALL! I am really not sure when it all started or even why it started, but somewhere down in line or through the years, God’s people starting thinking too small. I have seen this small thinking mindset to be a reality in the number of years I have been a pastor and church leader. When I was President of the Arkansas Baptist Convention I traveled, and I preached in many churches. What I discovered was that as believers we were thinking way too small. In the some of the churches I have been in over the past number of years, the biggest things on the mind of church members were these:

* What will we put on the front of the bulletin Sunday?
* Why are we singing all these “new songs” when we have a hymnal full of songs already?
* Why is the pastor and Sunday School literature not using the KJV?
* How can we increase our giving while reaching no new people and not being “preached to” about tithing?
* Why will these “young people” in our church or community not show up or do anything?
* How much are we paying that preacher?
* Somebody better start turning off the lights in those classrooms or we are not going to be able to pay the preacher next month.
* Why should we give to the Cooperative Program when we can use that money right here?

I could go on, but I think you see my point. Not only is the mindset of so many churches wrong, but it is really small minded.

Jesus never thought small! Jesus always thought BIG! Jesus didn’t sit around like a group of Baptists bemoaning the fact that He only had 12 Disciples. Jesus thought BIG! He decided that He could take 12 unlearned, common men and transform the world, not just while He was with them, but after He had ascended into Heaven and left them alone! Think about it…Jesus told them this in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (HCSB).”

This was large thinking! This was a huge, unproven idea. This was a major paradigm shift in the way people thought. Why? Because Jesus was thinking Big! He was challenging His followers to expand their own thinking and their faith in Him. This was the fulfillment of Jesus’ mission from Luke 19:10, when Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.” Big thinking!

What would happen if right now in our own lives and in our church we starting thinking BIG? What if we stepped out on faith and started attempting to do some BIG things for the glory of God? What if we decided we were going to make it really hard for a person in our city to die and go to Hell from this city because of the BIG influence, ministry, and gospel message being shared? What would happen if we as followers of Jesus got serious about making the Lord THE priority of our lives? What if we stopped getting distracted by the temporary things of this world and genuinely started living out our faith with boldness? What if we starting thinking BIG? Are you thinking big enough? Is our church thinking big enough?

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