Small Is Large

Pastor Steve Mendiola
Family Life Church
Corpus Christi, Texas

And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his leprosy. -II Kings 5:3

II Kings 5:3 is a verse that lies hidden in a larger story of Naaman the captain of the Syrian army who had leprosy. In this story we also see another main character by the name of Elisha the Prophet. For those of us that are familiar with this story we know the prophet told him to dip himself into the Jordan river seven times and he would be cleansed of his leprosy. We also know Naaman at first was upset but did listen to reason and dipped himself as the prophet instructed him to do so and he was cleansed.  What a powerful lesson in obedience and demonstration of God’s anointed.

But all of this would not have happened if a small act of information would not have been presented by the little girl whose name, we don’t know would have kept her knowledge to herself. She could have easily grown bitter towards her surrounding due to the fact she was taken from her homeland and kept what she knew to be true to herself. Thankfully for Naaman she didn’t. We can learn that it is not necessarily how much you know, it’s what you know. And this little girl knew that there was a man of God that God uses and she boldly spoke up with confidence and authority as the exclamation mark indicates in this verse.  

This one small act grew into something larger than herself. This one small act brought a movement that not only involved Naaman and Elisha, but also Naaman’s wife, the king of Syria, the king of Israel and many others.

Earlier in this year I had a very dear uncle pass. He was a man that loved Jesus, a man that loved his family and a man that loved his country by serving in the Army and serving as a Houston Police Officer. Before speaking at his memorial service, I had time to reflect my time with him and discovered three small acts that he displayed towards me that resulted into the development of who I am today.

I want to briefly share these three such moments that I had with my uncle that had significantly large results. During my younger wayward days of juvenile participation, I would always have my hands in my pocket. One day my uncle told me, “Take your hands out of your pocket, what are you hiding?” And with that statement over time, it became real to me that life wasn’t about hiding, operating in stealth intentions or masquerading as someone I’m not. It was cemented in me that life was about transparency, honesty, integrity, and being a man of my word.

In my second moment, when I would see my uncle, he would request a strong handshake and he would greet me with a tap on my back. This was not an ordinary tap. This was a strong man tap that had strong man results. From that moment stemmed the understanding that life at times will require me to be strong and not crumble when under heavy circumstances. I learned to stand tall with my shoulders back and look at the person in the eyes who was speaking to me.

My 3rd moment is when I played little league baseball. My uncle had a gift of calligraphy. His penmanship was superior. He would write down my information on my gloves in case my gloves would become lost with class and style. It became real to me that we all have gifts from God. And my uncle used one of his gifts for me and many other little leaguers. As I reflect and see that my uncle took time out of his very busy schedule to ink my information on a young nephew’s glove, I understand that small acts have lasting impressions that outlives the person who bestowed them as they continue to speak to me as a grown man.  
 
Dear servants of God, never underestimate the power of small. Your small acts have the potential to shape and develop a young adolescence such as the case of me or could reshape the thoughts of a captain of the Syrian army like Naaman.