My all-time favorite non-Biblical quote is: THE EXCELLENCE OF A CIRCLE LIES IN ITS ROUNDNESS, NOT ITS BIGNESS.
This insightful statement counters America's obsessive notion that to be "the best" it must be full of hype, bigness, unlimited upsurge and growth, higher numbers, noisy crowds and even bigger plans for the future. I’ve read of large multi-billion dollar corporations that lose a few million and panic. And the Church follows suit. Big is always better and spells success. And so, dissatisfaction is subtly implanted in the soul if the institution isn't booming. We begin to always feel sub this or that. But, strange as it may seem, sometimes smaller means better. Back door revivals often have very positive effects. It's refreshing when quality trumps quantity.
Think about this: If the Lord said He had 'much' people in Corinth ("I have much people in this city" - Acts 18:10), might this possibly mean that in another place He may have just a few? And if so, for the most part, do not 'results' expectations need to be adjusted accordingly? This may comfort small church pastors who are always bombarded with the notion that 'big is always better.'
Read the parables again. Matthew 13 extols the relatively poor yield of LITTLE seed sown (only one-fourth of the seed sown succeeds), the surprising outcome of the TINY mustard seed and the all-permeating effect of SILENT yeast. Reading these stories cause us to ask: do we really believe that little is much if God is in it? At the same time we acknowledge that big is great too IF God is in it and it is not mere worldly hype or the result to employing crowd psychology methodology. Jesus did minister to great crowds.
Now, let me remind us of four 'LITTLE', but significant things in Proverbs (Proverbs 30:24-28). They all teach us wisdom:
“There be four things which are little creatures upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise”:
"The ANTS are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer" (THE WISDOM OF PREPARATION)
The CONIES (small rabbit like creatures) are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks" (THE WISDOM OF ASSOCIATION)
"The LOCUSTS have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands"(THE WISDOM OF COOPERATION)
"The SPIDER taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces."(THE WISDOM OF DETERMINATION)
- dick christen
