When Less Isn’t Even Enough

When Abraham hears about God’s plans for the destruction of Sodom, he is rightly concerned. His favorite nephew, one he practical raised, is among those that are to be swept away. Not only that, Abraham worries about the other righteous men there. Surely God won’t destroy them too?

Abraham came near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Genesis 18:23

So he haggles with God. How many does it take before you call it off? 50? 45? 40? 30? 10? God, who owes nothing to Abraham, seemly patiently waits for him to come down to his final number the minimum righteous men you would need to save a city.

It’s not enough.

Not that God wouldn’t do it, there were not enough people to be found even among Lot’s own family to save wicked Sodom. Even after Abraham tries to make it is as few as he thought possible, It wasn’t enough

I notice a similar trend in church work. Gospel meeting, VBS’s, other events once lasted a week maybe two. Yet it was too much for some. So let’s cut it back. Could we just go for six days, maybe five? Let make it four, Sunday morning and night Monday through Wednesday. I mean aren’t you going to go to both services Sunday and Wednesday already, it is only two more days!

Yet what happens. It’s too much. We can’t sacrifice that kind of time. Think about it another way. The early Church met together each day (Acts 2:46), yet we can’t do it three times a week. Come an extra hour for Bible class? Come back in the evening? An hour on Wednesday? No, one hour once a week is enough.

But it is not.

Simply because the more we come down on our efforts the more it emphasizes our lack thereof. Our absence is more about our ‘want’ than our ‘can’ do. You're never going to become more doing less. The Bereans were nobler not just because they checked the work but they did so daily (Acts 17:11)!

Instead of aiming for the least we should do, let’s aspire to see the most we can do.

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