SMALL FAILURES

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

Galatians 5:7 NIV

            It was my turn to make a display for our summer missions project to Ukraine. I was to highlight the family I have lived with for several summers, using pictures and short descriptions. It was not a big project. It was the kind of a thing you could do in an evening. But as things go, I got busy and Sunday morning dawned with no display ready. I did get right on it the next week and I had a display ready for the next Sunday. But that experience sparked a thought in my mind.  My life has been punctuated with small failures.

            As I look back over my life, I can honestly say that I have not experienced any major failures. Oh, there was the time I set up the EKG wrong and got the doctor  upset. But he was only running a routine test, and I learned a big lesson from that mistake. But, as I examine my life, there have been a rather large number of small failures that have piled up over the years. Things like promising to pick up milk on my way home from work and then not remembering until I pull into the garage at home.

            In the book of Galatians, Paul wrote to a group of people who were ignoring the small failures in their lives. He was watching as they slipped further and further away from the Lord. In Galatians 1:6-7 he writes, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- which is no gospel at all.” Then in chapter 3 verse 1 he writes, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” And again in Chapter 5 verse 7, “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” I think the overall answer to Paul’s inquiry is “small failures.”

            The Galatians allowed little things to go on that gradually drew them away from the central truths of Christ. It is like being gently carried by the ocean current. At first, you do not notice the drift. But after a while, you realize that you have gotten a lot farther from shore than you had planned. It is the same with small failures. Their effect on our lives seems meaningless at first, but after a while we wake up to the reality that we have drifted a long way from where we want to be. At the end of his letter to the Galatians, Paul gives some insights into dealing with the small failures of life.

            First, small things matter. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7  (NIV)

            We tend to overlook small things in our lives, because we don’t think they matter. But we are very wrong. Living out in the country, one of the things that we battle constantly is dandelions. We can never seem to get ahead of them. If a person has two or three dandelions in his lawn, he may ignore them, thinking there are only a couple. It is no big deal. But that person would be very wrong. If those dandelions are allowed to go to seed, the next year, where there had been one or two plants, there will be a dozen or more. The same is true in our lives. If we allow small failures to go unchecked, they will multiply. Once small failures set down roots in our lives, they are very hard to get rid of. Paul tells us that small failures are like dandelions. If we allow them to go to seed we will reap a harvest of failure.

            Second, small things have big consequences. “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap a harvest of destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Galatians 6:8 (NIV)

            Every year we plant a vegetable garden. One of the things that my wife does not like about gardening is planting seeds. So many of the seeds we plant are tiny. It is hard to get them spaced properly. But out of those small seeds comes a harvest of vegetables and flowers.

            We planted a wildflower mix in a corner of the garden. Some of the seeds were minute, yet that corner of the garden exploded into a jungle of color and aroma. Some of the plants in that patch of garden were four feet tall. Small seeds can produce big results.

            Paul reminds us that our actions in life are like those small seeds. If the seeds we sow are

worldly, we will soon find ourselves in an overgrown weed patch. If the seeds we sow are godly, we can be sure that we will develop a beautiful garden where both God and we will be delighted.

            Last, if we manage the small things well the big things will take care of themselves.  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

            Every garden is a little battlefield. It is an ongoing contest between the flowers & vegetables and the weeds. Each is competing for the vital resources in the soil, which they need to grow. In order to assure that the vegetables and flowers are healthy and productive, the weeds have to go. This is not a onetime event. It is a constant battle to keep the weeds out of the garden.

            Sin has a way of creeping into our lives like weeds. It intermingles with the good things in our life. Left unchecked it will choke out the good. Jesus talked about this in the parable of the sower.

            Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 13:3-9 (NIV)

            In order for us to reap a harvest of righteousness, we need to constantly be rooting out the seeds of sin. This is much easier to do, if we deal with sin while it is still small, before it has firmly taken root. We do this by confessing our sin to Christ. Ignoring our sin is not an option. We must deal with it.

            If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9

            Our life, our character, our reputation are built on small things. Small failures and small successes comingle to create the big picture. If we manage the small things well, we can be assured that big picture will turn out alright.