I remember July 20, 1969. That is the day that Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. A few hours after landing, Armstrong would step foot where no man had ever been. His famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
I could not sleep the other night and my mind was drifting when those few words came into focus, giant leap or small steps. I was not thinking about the moon; I was thinking about faith.
Too often we think acts of faith have to be giant leaps, like when a young shepherd boy named David raced down into a valley with a slingshot and a few stones to face a giant with a sword and a large army of trained soldiers behind him. Or maybe we think of Elijah having a “Fire from Heaven” challenge with a bunch of false prophets on the top of Mt. Carmel. Those kinds of giant leaps of faith are daunting—at least to someone in their 70’s!
There are, however, those small steps of faith in which all of us can participate. Faith, like most of our Christian walk, is so daily; it is something we practice every day of our lives. We display acts of faith much more often in little steps than in giant leaps.
Small steps of faith are demonstrated when we speak to a neighbor about the LORD, or when we write a note of encouragement to someone who is struggling. A small step of faith might buy a few groceries or gasoline for a single parent. A small step of faith might be that praise that we offer to God amid our own sorrow or uncertainty. It might be offering to pray for someone, or walk with them to the altar, or hug them and cry with them, or share their loneliness.
The one thing about small steps of faith, in the end, they mount up. If we had started putting $1 in a savings account each day when we turned 20, we would be amazed at how much we had accumulated by the time we turned 75, especially with the accruing interest the bank would add. One small act of faith, with compound interest added by God, will one day equal that giant leap. It is never too late to start!
