Come and be Small

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are.

1 Corinthians 1:28

Come and be small, said no one ever.

Except, perhaps, one who learned the hard way that less is more, small is truly big, and to lose one’s life is to find it.

Saul’s name meant sought after.

One day, he would be called Paul instead. Paul means little. But that would come later, at great cost.

Saul used to be the biggest personality in the room. Like a raging bull with all the credentials of ascribed honor behind him, he was an indomitable force in the early days of the church.

There are many kinds of honor in the world, but only two universal ways to receive or give it. We call these either ascribed or achieved honor. We can’t earn ascribed honor; we’re born into it. Prince Harry and his brother William continue to wrestle with all the responsibility this type of honor puts upon those who never asked for it. Achieved honor, on the other hand, requires effort. It’s the kind we give our superstar athletes because of how well they perform on the field or the court. We see achieved honor in the rags-to-riches stories of hard-working people who rise through life’s challenges and come out on top.

Saul came from wealth and pedigree. His ascribed honor status caused him to loathe the little people, the ones who believed a carpenter from Nazareth who told them He had come to give them honor that could not be ascribed or achieved without His death and resurrection, and then accomplished both.

A big man like Saul didn’t have a box to put that kind of honor in. How could both exist in one man?

Jesus displayed both ascribed honor and achieved honor. God incarnate, Immanuel, He laid aside His majesty (read: ascribed honor) and took on flesh to achieve honor for you and me. For men like Saul.

Saul was blind to this kind of honor. So Jesus blinded Saul, for a time.

Now Saul, the honorable, sought-after persecutor of the early church, unable to see the road before him, had to be led by the hand of servants. He was embarking on a new path of honor. One whose way was paved with stones of suffering and smallness.

Saul was truly born again. The old Saul, born into ascribed honor, was reborn into honor he could never have achieved for himself. He became God’s evangelist, inviting all who would listen to come and be small. Be the least. 

Small and hidden aren’t natural. They aren't what we usually admire. We tend to pay attention to the most beautiful people, the loudest voices. What if we pursued smallness instead? #humility Share on X

What if we exchanged sought-after for little?

I find it interesting that it was in the presence of a Roman leader, during a fierce spiritual battle, that Saul was first called Paul (see Acts 13:9). Saul was again sought after that day, and it was by the ascribed honor culture he originally came from. The Roman official of Cyprus wanted Saul to explain the word of God to him. Saul could easily have slipped into his old identity and appealed to his pedigree. But instead, we see him acting very un-Roman-like, performing miracles and opposing the magician bent on turning the Roman’s faith away. 

In the end, the man called Little displayed gigantic faith and power. As a result, the Roman official believed in the Lord. Paul was no longer focused on his own honor. His eyes were fixed on one thing: preaching the boundless riches of Christ. He had become little in his own eyes so God could become as big as possible to others.

For the rest of his life, Paul wrote about smallness, weakness, minimizing, diminishing. 

Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ.

Ephesians 3:8

 

God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

1 Corinthians 1:28-29

I think I’ll choose little. 

Lord, I bring all my sought-after to You today. I want to be little so You can be as Big as possible to those around me. Amen.

 

Smaller Still

by Audrey frank

 

Smaller, smaller, smaller still

Till all surrenders to Your will;

Smaller, smaller, smaller still,

Have Your way in me.

 

Smaller, smaller, smaller still

Till raging pride has lost its thrill;

Smaller, smaller, smaller still,

Be all the joy I seek.

 

Smaller, smaller, smaller still

Till my soul rests on Calvary’s hill;

Smaller, smaller, smaller still,

Hide me in the Cross.

 

Smaller, smaller, smaller still

Till no more tears of self do spill;

Smaller, smaller, smaller still,

Be my everything.

 

@audreycfrank

Photo by Helena Hertz on Unsplash