“Small” is a word — a perfectly good word, in my humble estimation — that has fallen on tough times in recent years. In the world of commerce, particularly, it seems as though it’s an unpardonable offense to label anything as small.

For example, if you examine the menus of several major fast food franchises, you’ll find no small cup of soft drink. The least voluminous cup size is labeled “medium,” despite the fact that the word medium, by definition, requires degrees on either extreme — you can’t really describe something as “medium sized” unless there are sizes both smaller and larger.

The Starbucks Coffee chain goes to especially strange lengths to avoid designating a product as small. The smallest (if I may use that word) cup of regular coffee available at Starbucks is labeled “tall” — an oddity indeed, given that all of their other cups are, in fact, taller than this one. (On the other end of the scale, Starbucks calls its largest cup of coffee “venti,” a word which I suspect must be Italian for “humongous.”)

The Bible has no such qualms about labeling things small while still finding goodness and worth in them. The inspired poet Agur writes, “There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise” (Proverbs 30:24), speaking of God’s providential care for the ant, rock badger, locust, and spider. A small cake baked for God’s prophet Elijah represented an act of generosity so great that it rewarded the widow of Zarephath with two miracles, including the restoration of her son’s life (1 Kings 17:8-24). Jesus considered the giving of two small copper coins by a poor widow a greater offering than the enormous sums given by the wealthy (Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4).

God once asked Zerubbabel, the leader of Judah in the years following the Babylonian captivity, “Who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10). At the time, Zerubbabel was spearheading the reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Some of the Jews were mocking his work, because the new temple was far less elaborate and ostentatious than the glorious temple of Solomon it replaced. God wanted Zerubbabel to understand that though his work may have seemed small and insignificant to others, it was great in the sight of the Lord.

By the same token, all of Zerubbabel’s work would pale in comparison with the wonders of the Messiah who would come some 500 years later, but that did not mean the efforts Zerubbabel put forth were insignificant. No, Zerubbabel was not Solomon, and he was certainly not the Christ. But the things he did in service to the Lord — small though they appeared — had great value to God.

There are many works of service a child of God can perform that may seem small — too small, perhaps, to be considered worthy of doing. We should understand, however, that God does not ascribe worth as we do, and that what seems small and unimportant to us is not always so to Him. The small cake of the widow of Zarephath and the small copper coins of the widow Jesus saw in the temple don’t look like much on the surface. But God judged these gifts based on the size of the faith that inspired their giving, not on the size of the gifts themselves.

Jesus once fed a multitude of five thousand men, plus an untold number of women and children, using a boy’s lunch of five barley loaves and two small fish (John 6:1-14). Andrew the apostle asked, “What are they (the loaves and fish) among so many?” Jesus took that small portion and made it a feast so abundant that the leftovers filled twelve baskets, proving that in His mighty hands, even the smallest sacrifice can be made great.

Christ told His disciples, “Whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42). A cup of water is a small gift, but it can be a demonstration of an excellent love.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that small is inherently bad. Sometimes the smallest of things are the most precious treasures. Neglect no act of righteous service because it seems small. The “day of small things” is a fine day in God’s eyes.