This week, we’re continuing our message series as we go through the parables of Jesus and learn from Him how to truly live life to its fullest.

A parable is a simple story that illustrates a moral or spiritual lesson. Jesus said that He taught using parables so that the secrets of His Kingdom would only be understood by those seeking after this revelation.

This week, we’re going through a few parables that Jesus taught us about the importance of ‘lil things.

Sometimes in our lives, we get caught up in the sense of insignificance. We read about the incredible miracles of Jesus and the early church. We read about the heroic feats of the giants of the Old Testament who faced incredibly impossible obstacles, yet overcame them all. It’s easy to read through these testimonies as fables or stories, somehow bigger than life.

Then, we find ourselves busily going about our daily routines, overwhelmed with the struggles that we face, and we begin to question and wonder about our own faith. Do the things that we do matter to God? Am I missing out on a greater purpose that I could be living for God?

However, the Bible is careful to also include the details of the real emotions and failures and doubts that these same individuals faced; even Jesus, Himself. It reveals how often, these individuals didn’t necessarily choose greatness, but how God mightily used them. Most of these individuals likely never realized that their life stories would boost them to fame in God’s word.

Mary confessed to be just a humble servant of God, then chose to give birth and mother Jesus. David was just out tending to the sheep and anointed king of Israel. Esther was a poor orphan exalted as queen just because of her beauty and, well, as the Bible phrases it, her figure. Joseph was left for dead, sold into slavery, falsely imprisoned, and then became second in command over all of Egypt.

None of these individuals had the goal of becoming eternally famous for their faith, they were all simply humble people who were committed to serve and honor a great God. As a result, God turned their lives into something great.

Today, we’re going to learn just how incredibly impactful and tremendously great the ‘lil things are to Jesus.

In our culture, we often do not value the little things. Or, maybe more accurately, we mislabel what is valuable and significant. Consider this example. The CEO of a business is considered to be a person of great success and their work incredibly significant. At that same business, the janitor is thought to be a person of little ambition and their work somewhat unimportant. In reality, however, if the CEO didn’t do their work for one month, the business would probably keep on going without anyone really noticing their absence. If the janitor didn’t do their work for a month, every single person that even merely visits business would drastically notice their absence!

This cultural perspective often causes us to miss out on the importance and greatness of what is happening right around us in the midst of our routines. What we consider to be the ‘lil things, God often considers the most significant matters of life.

Things such as the small talk that you make with the postmaster when you pick up your mail, the smile that you give to the mom trying to round up her kids at the store, saying “thank you” to your co-worker, texting “hello” to that person going through a rough time; all of these things are ‘lil, but can radically transform the lives of those around us.

Think of God’s creation itself. We drive through a puddle and cruise right along to the next item on our agendas for the day never thinking a thing of it. However, if we take a look at just a single drop of water from that puddle under a microscope, an entirely new world teaming with life bustling about is revealed. We just radically transformed the life for those little protozoa, algae, arthropods, and rotifers as they were thrown through the air!

Jesus gave us these parables about ‘lil thing