You, no doubt, have heard the adage, “The smallest action is worth more than the biggest intention.” While there are many versions of that saying, they all cause most of us to have varying amounts of guilt. We mean to follow through on a promise to a friend to get together for coffee. We intend to clean out a certain closet. We really want to get in contact with a new acquaintance or write a note to grandma simply to let her know we are thinking about her. It doesn’t take long for the excuses to come to mind, does it? It’s so easy to believe that next week we’ll have more time or next month our schedule will be less complicated. Yet, when we actually cross items off our “to do” list, the satisfaction makes the action certainly worth the effort, doesn’t it?
There was a man in the Old Testament who had a responsible job for the king of Persia, Artaxerxes I. Though he was cupbearer at the palace there, his heart was really in Jerusalem where some of his people were now living again. When he heard about the conditions in which they were existing, his heart was moved and so, because he was a man of action, he didn’t simply ask God to solve their problems, but he offered to do whatever he could to help them. He was obviously a man who believed that good intentions were meant to be the incentive to action so that when God opened the door for him to go to Jerusalem, he took off his hat of royalty and put on a new working man’s cap. He mobilized a team of people to get to work, not only to rebuild the walls, but to restore the people’s commitment to trust and obey the Lord, their God. He prayed and then he became a vital part of the answer to his own prayer.
Another similar saying is this, “Actions speak louder than words.” Do you believe this?