The Importance of the Unimportant
Washing Clothes. Car Maintenance. Dental Hygiene. These are all non-glamorous actions most of us perform each day. These unimportant tasks seem to drain the life out of us. We would be remiss, however, if we forgot about any one of them. Every job is important in life. Even more so in the church. No one committee, no one position or ministry, is more important than the collective whole. Everyone is important. There is no such thing as an unimportant person in the eyes of God.
Toward the end of His time of earth, Jesus taught this same lesson to the disciples. After a discourse based upon the judgment of sin, Jesus suddenly switched gears and angled His message straight to the “unimportant.” He preaches, “Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Did you catch that? “The least of these” – is another way to say unimportant. Jesus places Himself on the same level as the unimportant - though there was no one more important in the history of the world.
When we think of the unimportant, we can think of people like David. He was the eighth of the 8 children of Jesse. There was nothing spectacular about him. At the time of Samuel’s move to coronate a new king, Jesse brought seven of his sons out. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” said Samuel. If there were only one more…but, wait, there is another son! He’s the youngest (the runt, if you will). Jesse said he’s the least important of all the brothers. David was important, however, not because of his talents, but because God called him “important to me.”
A few chapters over, we find David volunteering to fight this 9-foot-6 inch giant. Goliath mocked him, shouting, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” This God used 1 of 5 small (unimportant) stones to knock Goliath to the ground. God can use anyone or anything for His glory.
God demands humility. The wicked King Nebuchadnezzar was not a humble man. If you wrote a definition for “pride “in the dictionary, his picture would be next to it. In his dream in the book of Daniel, described by Nebuchadnezzar himself, he describes what he learned as our God taught him humility: “That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men” (my italics). This is our God. God does not care about our own self-evaluation. We are loved by Him - and this should be of the utmost importance to us.
What about Simon of Cyrene? He was “coming from the country” when all of a sudden…BAM! A Roman guard came to him and demanded that he carry Jesus’s cross. (Matthew 27:32 describes the action as “compelled him.”) Was this man a follower of Christ? Maybe. Maybe not. Now, he would be forever linked to the Messiah. Certainly, it is not out of the question that he was the first to realize the significance of the moment.
Abigail opposed her husband and warned David of a potential plan to end his life. Seemingly inconsequential? Yes. Less Important? No Way! Shiphrah and Puah, Hebrew midwives, were way down on the totem pole, as well. God used these 2 women to save the nation from Pharaoh’s evil plan to commit genocide on an entire race. No one is unimportant!
Paul echoes this notion. In He writes, “and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.” Furthermore, he clarifies, “So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” God lifts. God brings down. God upholds. God judges.
With God, everyone is important. (So important, that Jesus died for you!) Don’t believe the lies of Satan. Every job, every ministry in the church, every deacon is important. We are all a part of God’s master plan - His family. We have worth and meaning.
Every unknown deed is, indeed, known by God. Every whispered prayer is heard by God and echoes throughout the throne room of God. As pride grips our society, know that you are important to the only One who truly matters. Your name may not be on billboards or up in colorful lights, yet, in our “unimportance” is where the Believer finds our importance. Only this is what should be important to us.