When all You Want is a Name

Piles of dirty dishes surround the kitchen sink and the clutter the counter and litter the island in my kitchen.

My dishwasher broke last week and for about three days I did a great job of keeping up with the dishes. Then stuff happened. I got busy and lazy and I injured my foot and the dishes kept piling up.

And honestly clean dishes are not flashy. I mean we notice when we run out of clean spoons, but we don’t really pay attention when there are clean spoons in the drawer every day. Clean dishes feel little, small, unimportant.

At least they seem unimportant until there are no clean dishes to use or your husband invites his growth group to your house and there are dirty dishes littering your kitchen and no time to hand wash them all.

Sometimes it feels easier to live in my cluttered up, lazy life so I don’t have to do the little things…I mean the big things are more important right?

Big things are God things and little things are just…little. Or are they?

The thing is we can’t do the big things for God when we aren’t doing the little things. Just like you can’t run a marathon if you don’t start by running one mile. Your house isn’t suddenly organized unless you wash dishes and – gasp – put them away. You can’t suddenly obey God for big grand things if you aren’t obeying Him in the mundane little things in life.

Maybe the issue is that instead of looking to make God’s name great, I am looking to make a name for me, Angela.

Is the real reason I want to do big things – be a world changer – because I want people to think how great I am or maybe I want God to think I am great?

Have I forgotten that in Christ my name is treasured possession?

Or that through the Holy Spirit the mundane becomes worship because I can praise God for dirty dishes and food and family…

May I not be like those who built a tower to make a name for themselves.

Instead, O LORD, may I be like David and long to glorify Your name forever.

May the name I want to glorify be God’s alone…forever and ever.

Do you seek to make a name for yourself? How can you turn your desire for recognition into praise to God who deserves all glory and honor?