When the returning exiles completed the foundation for their rebuilt temple, God did something strange. He invited them to compare their small building to the previous temple Solomon built. 

Who is left among you who saw this house in its’ former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? -Haggai 2:3 

If I didn’t know better, I’d think God was mocking them, rubbing their faces in the mud. It sounds that way, doesn’t it? “Hey guys, this temple is small, isn’t it? Nothing compared to the glory of that other building. Anywho…just wanted you to know.” Why in the world would God do that?  Because He understands how they feel. He knows this day is a tremendous let down. He wants to encourage them. But first they have to be open. So God invites their honesty. He’s not mocking them. He’s engaging them at their level of hurt.

As I wrote last week, I believe this event and God’s response has deep relevance into our own underwhelmed and often disappointed hearts. Ask any Christian brave enough to be honest, this question: “Are you happy with your life, your marriage, your parenting, your career, your ministry, your station in life, and your contribution to the world?”  

In our day of social media hype, everything has to be epic, awesome, over-the-top, radical and worthy of a like, share, or follow. There’s no room for normal. Go big or go home is the feeling you get when you survey the cultural landscape. It’s overwhelming.  

For that reason, most people could very easily slide into the sandals of the Israelites God addresses in this passage. He’s saying, “Look at your accomplishments. Are they not small and unremarkable in your eyes?” If we’re honest, we’ll have to say “Yes, Lord,” but only if we’re honest. “Yes, Lord. My life so often feels small, and disappointing, especially when I look around and compare it to what I see out there…”  

The key words in God’s question are “In your eyes.” We see our jobs, families, ministries, day-to-day routines, as small, irrelevant, and underwhelming. Changing diapers. Clocking into a cubicle job. Coaching soccer. Delivering pizzas. Washing dishes. Serving in a small church. Those mundane activities seem so inescapably small, quiet, boring, and insignificant—to us at least. In our eyes.  God knows that, and He cares enough to engage us at that level. He knows many of us battle resentment. He knows we question our lives and live with regrets. 

Combatting what he believed was a misleading trend for the church in the “radical” culture, author Michael Horton wrote a book titled Ordinary and said:

For many of us, the worst word in our vocabulary is “ordinary.” Who wants a bumper sticker that announces to the neighborhood, “My child is an ordinary student at Bubbling Brook Elementary”? Who wants to be an ordinary person in an ordinary town, a member of an ordinary church with ordinary friends and callings? Our life has to count. We have to leave our mark, a legacy, make a difference. And this has to be something that we can manage, measure, and maintain. We have to live up to our own FB profile.

God understands our sadness. And He values our smallness. He knows the most powerful reminder we need to hear is the simple truth he shares next: 

Yet now be strong all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not…for the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace (verses 4–9).

He is saying, “I know this looks small and feels insignificant, but don’t give up or be afraid. Be strong. Stay at it. I’m in this. I’m with you. This is for my glory, and it matters.”

Those words breathed new life into the crestfallen Israelites. Maybe we need to hear them too at the start of 2021. Surely you have expectations for this year. I’ve been hearing how much “better” this year is going to be after the let down of 2020. But let’s be sure our metrics for “better” match God’s. Just because our roles appear small, quiet, and unremarkable, doesn’t mean we should despise them—or change them.   In a culture that celebrates fame, the ordinary life matters to God. Small, ordinary and faithful are beautiful to Him—and should be to us. Great things in God’s kingdom have small beginnings: A mustard seed. A boy’s lunch. A widow’s mite. The incarnation.

The Apostle Paul writes, “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the  Lord, knowing that, in the Lord, your labor is not in vain." He’s saying the same thing as Haggai. To God, our small, meager lives matter. They carry huge potential for gospel impact when we let go of (and repent of) our grandiose notions. As Mother Teresa said, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” 

So, I encourage you to begin 2021 with these thoughts in mind: 

1. Invest in stamina. Cultivate endurance. Recognize the miraculous world of the small and ordinary. Little is much when God is in it. Bible study, prayer, fellowship, resisting temptation, cultivating a long obedience in the same direction.  
2. Resist comparing your life, work, or ministry to another. That will spare you both pride and despair. Celebrate faithfulness in the mundane activities of life. 
3. Trust God to make Himself great in your smallness. He will have the final say. And it will sound like this: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into my joys.” 
4. Remember that Jesus already did the most radical thing. He gave His life for His enemies—those who despised Him. His life and death went largely unnoticed, and those who did take notice responded mostly with malice.