Small Greatness

My uncle sent me this quote today,

“A great deal more failure is the result of an excess of caution than of bold experimentation with new ideas. The frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution.” - J. Oswald Sanders

Somehow it connected with what I had read yesterday in Shane Claiborne's book, The Irresistible Revolution.

"While the temptation to do great things is always before us, in Khalighat I learned the discipline of doing small things with great deliberation. Mother Teresa used to say, 'We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.' Just as Andy would reprimand people for using too much soap when washing dishes (we mixed ashes with soap to multiply it), I also heard many a volunteer scolded for not putting enough gravy on the rice, since the plate was being served to Jesus himself ." (Pg. 78)

So what is greatness?

Today I think I heard Jesus say, "Recklessly abandon yourself to love the small, the humble, the poor, the least, and the last--that is greatness in my kingdom."

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:3

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." - Matthew 16:25

"Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much" - Luke 16:10

"Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me." - Matthew 25:40