Seeing the Big Picture

Last night marked the first meeting of the college-age small group that Brittany and I are hosting through Carterville Christian Church. We had been looking forward to it for quite a while and it did not disappoint. The group meets at our house at 408 N. McCoy in Joplin (from 2nd & Maiden go 1 block west, turn right onto McCoy and the house is on the left side about 6 blocks down) on Thursday nights at 6:00pm - well, we're gathering at 6:00 the goal is to start official activities closer to 6:30 after we've enjoyed some food and some friendly competition on the Wii.

The first meeting of this group went well from our perspective and we look forward to next week. The following are some highlights from our time of study together last night.

With the busy lives that most adults lead it is very easy to miss the big picture of what is going on around us. I find that I am often so caught up in the task at hand or the challenge ahead that I don't realize the larger implications of what God is doing around me and how He is calling me to play a role in that.

The result of missing the big picture can lead to frustration and a lack of fulfillment with our day to day lives, because we're not really seeing what God is doing. It becomes easy to feel like He isn't doing anything around or in us, because we're too focused on what lies ahead. This faulty perspective can cause us to miss a lot of the opportunities God gives us to play a part in what He is doing.

Sometimes we are fortunate enough to have a changed perspective in the midst of what otherwise seems like a boring, ordinary, or even miserable experience. My first summer as an intern was kind of like this. The first 3 weeks in the office were tough, we worked long hours doing tedious tasks that really didn't make sense to me. But then the first event started and I got to see how what we were doing (Summer Conference) was creating an opportunity for those students to encounter Jesus and the life-change that resulted. In a moment my perspective changed. The tasks remained the same for the next several weeks, but with a different outlook on it I was able to enjoy even the most mundane and tedious of tasks.

Jesus was the master of seeing the big picture in an ordinary, everyday scenario. Take the account of the woman at the well in John 4 or Jesus calling Peter to be his disciple in Luke 5. Both encounters were fairly ordinary (except for the fact that a Jewish man wasn't supposed to talk to a woman, particularly a Samaritan) until Jesus looked beyond the obvious and caused life-change to occur in both of those people.

Sometimes the smallest acts on our part can have huge implications for others. We encounter people everyday who may or may not know Christ. How big of an impact will a kind word have on someone who is hurting and doesn't think anyone cares? How much will a small, thoughtful favor mean to an elderly person who is all alone? These things can happen almost without thought on our part, but may be enormous to the person on the receiving end. The danger is that if we're too focused on our tasks or ourselves to see opportunities to do small things for people we'll miss golden opportunities to point people toward Christ.

Scripture teaches that God places huge value on people - so much that He sent Jesus to die for our sins. When we fail to place great value on people - treating others as objects or ignoring them entirely - we're not living our faith. Who did I encounter today that I looked right past? How could I have exhibited Christ's love to someone in a simple way and didn't bother?

Seeing the big picture can be difficult and the busier we are the more difficult it can be. However, gaining that perspective is important to both finding fulfillment in our everyday lives in Christ as well as living out the mission that He has left us with.


If you're between 18 and 25 and looking for something to do next Thursday feel free to come by.