Feeling Insignificant?

By guest writer, Cindy Beason.

When my husband and I traveled to Israel recently, the tour guide mentioned the word insignificance several times. One woman even called out from the back of the bus, "There's that word insignificance again!"

On the second day, the tour group visited Nazareth. Our guide pointed out the probable boundaries of the ancient town—about the size of a football field. In Jesus’s time, this town had no more than 480 people. Though small, its location remains noteworthy. For in Luke, we are told, “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary” (1:26-27).

The Transforming Power of Jesus Nazareth was not highly regarded in Jesus’ day. His future disciple, Nathanael’s statement in John 1:45-46 reveals as much: “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’” Nathanael’s negative comment arose not because Nazareth was an unusually horrible place but because it was small, an insignificant place. Likewise, God came to Mary, a seemingly insignificant girl, and made both Nazareth and Mary significant.

Next, our trip led us to the Sea of Galilee, a place of insignificant towns such as Capernaum and Magdala. Yet the Bible teaches that Jesus focused his ministry there, making the area significant along with those ordinary men who became his disciples. There is a place along the Sea of Galilee that tradition holds is where the following passage takes place:

John 21:9, 12-14 explains,‘“When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. ... Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.”’

Jesus met these lowly, insignificant fishermen’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs at the perfect time and in the perfect way. They were significant to Him.

Another place insignificance came up was at Bet Shen. The ruins there are from Roman times, but it is also the place where enemy soldiers nailed the bodies of King Saul and his son, Jonathan, to the city wall (1 Samuel 31:8-13). Prior to this tragedy, Samuel anointed the seemingly insignificant shepherd boy, David, as King (1 Samuel 16:11-13). God obviously made David significant in Israel’s history.

The Immeasurable Riches of Grace On tour day five, we visited Jericho where God plucked the seemingly insignificant woman Rahab out of a wicked culture destined for destruction: “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent” (Joshua 6:17).

God gifted her with salvation, a place among His people (Joshua 6:25), and the privilege to be in the line of Christ, for Boaz was her son and King David her great-great grandson (Matthew 1:5-6). God made Rahab significant.

Once our trip ended, I meditated further on insignificance. My own Bible study focused on the story of Mephibosheth, the lame son of Jonathan (son of King Saul and King David’s dearest friend), who regarded himself as a “dead dog” (2 Samuel 9:1-13). In his society, he felt worthless as a cripple and as a potential enemy of the King. However, David sought him out, showed him kindness, restored his land, and lifted him up to eat at the King’s table, like one of his sons. David made Mephibosheth significant.

God does that for us in salvation! We become significant as His children. We, who were dead in our trespasses and sins, are shown kindness, adopted into His family, and invited to feast at His table as his children—to be with Him forever! When we feel insignificant, we need to remind ourselves that we are immensely significant to God. He saved us. He plucked us out of our wicked world to save us, no matter how insignificant we feel or appear in the world’s eyes. We are significant to God.

Ephesians 2:4-7 — ”But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming age he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

How else should that fact change us now? There is no need to try to make ourselves significant to the world. We are already significant in God’s eyes. Galatians 1:10 — “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Practically, are there ways we try to make ourselves significant? Consider these questions:

-Do we take on roles for attention rather than for right motives? -Do we get upset when the focus isn’t on us?

-Do we lash out when we feel unheard and therefore insignificant?

-Do we feel hurt by our adult kids who can often make us feel insignificant perhaps

because they are leading busy lives and don’t have time for us? or a variety of other

reasons?

-Do we feel insignificant as we age in our culture because we are “retired” from jobs

or from child-rearing or even from roles in the church?

-More importantly, do we fail to realize and to act like our significance is in Christ?

-And ultimately, do we fail to point to and magnify Christ who is supremely

significant, but made himself insignificant by coming to earth for us?

When we feel insignificant, we can remember that no matter how unimportant or inconsequential we may appear, God so greatly loved us that he plucked us out of our wicked world to save us.

We are immensely significant to God.

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Cindy Beason lives in Colorado and is the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three young children.

She primarily considers herself a wife, stay at home mom and volunteer, but she also worked in banking as a commercial loan officer and currently works during tax season for her sister’s CPA firm. Travel, bicycling, and reading are some of her favorite activities.

During her husband’s twenty-four year career as an Air Force Officer and his follow-on leadership roles at Los Alamos National Lab and Air Force Space Command, she has supported him while helping her children adjust to multiple moves.

Cindy is passionate about God’s Word and and has been teaching women’s Bible studies for the past 10 years. She is concerned about the deception women are susceptible to in our culture. Her other involvements with women include a neighborhood Bible study, a Biblical historical fiction book group, and a hiking group.