Small Things Done With Great Love Still Change The World

Steve Sjogren is right. "Small things done with great love will change the world." But you don’t even have to be Christian to recognize that. What if Martin Luther had never nailed his 95 Theses to the door at Wittenburg? What if Martin Luther King had never dreamed a dream? What if Rosa Parks had never sat down on that bus? Don’t you see that small things done with great love have already changed the world? Sure, she probably didn’t realize at the time what a big deal her ordinary act would become. And sometimes, neither do we. Even though, as Christ’s followers, we should by now.

Acts 17:6 [NKJV] tells us why. It says, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too." I like the way the NIV says it even more. "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here." Jesus, you see, was a trouble maker. When the hawks were clamoring for war against Rome, Jesus talked about turning the other cheek. When the church leaders created 613 rules to keep Sabbath holy, the Lord of the Sabbath went out of his way to break nearly every one of them. And when prostitutes and tax collectors decided to throw Him a party, He actually went. Not worried if Gabriel would follow Him in there or not.

He was walking and talking. Eating and drinking. Praying and partying. Healing and blessing. Just showing up. Offering personal invitations. Simply being, what I like to call, normal.
It reminds me of a story I read recently. In it, there’s a group of church people who basically take potluck to the park each week so they can feed the homeless. When they started, the police arrived and said they couldn’t feed the homeless without a permit. They replied, "We’re not feeding the homeless. We’re eating with them. We invited them to our picnic." Which I think is hilarious. Because Jesus WAS homeless right? He said in Luke 9:58 [NIV] says, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

So here you’ve got THE homeless guy modeling for His 21st century followers how to minister TO homeless guys and others rejected by society by eating with them taking advantage of every ordinary thing they were going to do anyway and because they actually did—they get in trouble. Who knew peanut butter and jelly could be so controversial?