To our way of thinking, unless our actions bring about a great change, they are useless. How often have we walked by a piece of paper or rubbish that someone dropped and we ourselves do not bend to pick it up because there is more rubbish to be seen? It seems like an endless task. What we may not notice is that in our inner man, changes take place. We can become careless in many little things as our values slowly change.

Jesus explained that when He observed a person being faithful in something small (like picking up a piece of paper and putting it in the trash bin), He knew that the person would be faithful with larger responsibilities (Luke 19:17). Jesus was looking at what was going on within the mind of the person—not on the little act that took place. For all of us, it is the inner man that we are developing by doing a little.