Faithful in Small Things

I still remember the day I went to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa and volunteered my services to Pastor Chuck Smith. I was nineteen years old, and I said, “Pastor Chuck, I want to be used by God. I will do whatever you want me to do around here.”

I thought he might ask me to preach at one of the midweek services. Instead he said, “I have a man I want you to talk to—Pastor Romaine.”

I didn’t know who Pastor Romaine was at the time. But I learned that he had been a drill sergeant in the Marine Corps, and he took a special delight in whipping young bucks like me into shape. My job, basically, was to do janitorial work for free.

I thought, “Wait a second. I thought they were going to let me serve the Lord.”

They were. Effectively they were saying, “Be faithful in the little things, and if you aren’t, then we won’t give you anything else to do.” So I went about faithfully doing whatever was set before me, and in time, they let me go and do a Bible study here and there. I preached in some pretty interesting places, including mental institutions. And when all the pastors went out to lunch, I would ask the secretary to route the calls to me from people who called in for counseling. Little did people realize that when they were calling the church for advice, they were talking to a nineteen-year-old kid. I was anxious to do whatever I could to serve the Lord.

I have found that if we want to be used by God, then we have to be willing to do the little things first. Because we can never be too small for God to use—only too big.