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Is Your God Too Small? Vision 20/20 Thinking Outreach by Jearim Woodall


Tis past year my wife and I were blessed with a child. Each night as we prepared for the arrival of this big life change, I would sing a song to an ever-growing belly: “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do — for you!1


” At first I sang


mostly because it was supposed to be good for the baby’s develop- ment. However, as I repeated that song night aſter night, it became a powerful reminder to me: Tere is nothing God cannot do! We might remember this concept, stated in scripture several


times: “For nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37); “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” ( Jeremiah 32:27); and “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’” (Matt. 19:26). Each of these passages — while pointing to a different avenue of God’s power — comes to the same conclusion: God is more than adequate for the task. As someone who just recently became a part of the Commis- sion on Outreach, at least in part because I realized my need to make outreach more of a priority in my life, I find the Matthew passage of special interest. Sometimes, due to a lack of faith, knowledge, or courage, I


assume the task of making disciples to be impossible. We may look at friends and family members we’ve been wanting to, or trying to, witness to for years, and we think, “Is it even possible for them to be saved?” Or maybe we look at ourselves and think, “What if they ask a question I can’t answer? What if I choke, and the words come out wrong? What if they are offended, and I lose the relationship? What if …?” I recently started reading Small Faith—Great God by N.T.


Wright. One paragraph summed up quite nicely what that simple children’s song was saying to me.


6 “When the disciples said to Jesus, ‘Lord, increase our faith,’ Je-


sus said that all they needed was faith like a grain of mustard seed. It is not great faith we need; it is faith in a great God.” Maybe it’s not our faith, knowledge, or courage that are too


small. Maybe it is our God! Idols, like our public image (I don’t want to look dumb. I want


to be liked.); our comforts (I just don’t have time. Tat sounds difficult. I’d rather _______.); our sensibilities (God wouldn’t really send people to hell. He is love.); (I’m right, they’re wrong, and I’m going to prove it.) get in the way. Or, perhaps we see God primarily as a loving heavenly Father, a just Judge, or a sacrificing Savior. While these are all roles he has spoken of himself, they are only pieces of the whole. Instead of allowing God to show us how vast his infinite presence is, we chop and mold convenient parts until we have a much smaller, more palatable version. Tis way God is understandable, convenient and even pleasant to our individual tastes. When we allow ourselves to believe in a big God, the great


commission takes on a new light. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Terefore go and make disciples …. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20 NIV). Tis triune, sovereign Creator and Sustainer who is beyond description then calls and enables those who desire to bring others to see the wonder beyond wonders — God!


Jearim Woodall lives in Indian Head, Sask. with his wife Sarah and their young daughter. Jearim is the pastor of Community Bible Church of Indian Head and a member of the FEBC Commission on Outreach.


1My God Is So Big by Ruth Harms Calkin. Copyright © 1959, 2002 Nuggets of Truth, Bonnie Knopf. FellowshipForward.org


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