Just mark it down right now: the devil is a liar. He says our sin is so small that it won’t affect us, and our good works are so insignificant that they won’t impact anyone else. But there is no such thing as an action without a reaction. In God’s kingdom, everything matters. Here’s how…

Every sin matters.

For thousands of years, people who lived during the time of the Old Testament were taught to abide by certain laws and ordinances. But when the Son God came to earth as a human, he brought an expanded teaching. No longer is it just an outward conformity to the law that matters, your heart has to be in it. The part of you that nobody else sees matters.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes the rules and presses them deeper into the soil of our souls. It’s not enough to keep your hands from murdering; you have to keep your heart from hating. You can’t check the box of morality just because you’ve managed to keep your body from immorality because God wants your heart to be pure and 100% free from lustful thoughts. It’s not enough to eliminate the “big sins” that other people can see; Jesus wants every part of our being to belong to him. It’s not just love the Lord with your Sunday morning, your clean record, and your adultery-free marriage, but “love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength” (Mark 12:30).

Every sin matters. There is no sin so small that isn’t capable of ruining your life. I see this in my life and in the lives of those around me. Nobody wakes up one day and thinks, “Today I’m going to ruin my marriage and cause everyone around me to question the existence of God and goodness.” The path of destroying their marriage took place years ago when they began to question whether God’s way was really the best way. It started when, instead of strapping on the belt of truth and fighting against the lies of the devil, they began to “live their truth” rather than living by the holy Word of God.

The devil will tell you that your sin doesn’t matter because nobody knows about it, but you can never sweep sin under the rug and expect it to lie dormant. It is only when we confess and forsake sin (no matter how small and hidden we think it is) that we can have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

Every good work matters.

Just as every sin matters in the kingdom of God, every good work matters too. There is no good work so small or hidden that it cannot grow and produce a harvest of righteousness for the glory of God. That caregiving you do in the middle of the night. The diapers you change day in and day out. The gossip you quiet. The toilet you clean. The kind word you give. The temper you overcome. The prayers you pray. The anger you resist.

Jesus calls attention to small deeds when he tells his followers that “whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42). Don’t despise the small steps of obedience God is calling you to take in this season of your life; Jesus doesn’t. Who knows what your small act of faith or kindness today will enable you to do next week?

Everything you do today is shaping who you will be tomorrow, next month, and ten years from now. Don’t get tired of doing good, because you’re going to reap an incredible harvest if you don’t give up. (Galatians 6:9) Be diligent to fight sin, and be encouraged in the seemingly invisible good works you do. God is using all these things to make you more like him.

Whatever you do, in word or deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17