Big Things Have Small Beginnings –Thoughts inspired by the Prometheus Trailer

At the end of the trailer for Prometheus, which has a very sinister feel anyway, Michael Fassbender is there with this tiny little speck (a cell or seed or larvae maybe?) on the tip of his finger and he says ominously, “Big things have small beginnings.”  From what I gather, (having only seen the trailer, admittedly) this tiny speck was what became the evil threat to humanity.

Isn’t that how it is with most evil things?  How many lives, relationships, churches, businesses, nations even, have been destroyed by something which, if you trace it back to its origin, was something actually very tiny?  A rumor, a lie, a hesitation, a compromise, a moment of weakness, “just a sip,” or “just one try.”  We are so deceived when we think that a little compromise is little.  We are deceived if we think that sin doesn’t grow and consume.  Like that little speck, it’s never content to stay little.  Sin is a seed and its desire is to grow and devour.

This is why God takes sin so seriously.  It’s why He desires a holy people, a people of character and integrity and righteousness.

I can’t help but think of the story in the book of Joshua, when Achan stole some of the plunder from a military victory, plunder he was commanded not to touch.  It was just one man who committed the sin, one man in a whole army/nation.  And yet, because of his sin, the whole nation was affected.  God said:

Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. ¹² That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction (Joshua 7:11-12).

God is fierce about sin.  He would have none of it in His camp.  When there is sin, we cannot stand against our enemies.  God definitely has the “nip it in the bud” mentality.  He won’t support a people who are content to let sin fester and grow.  We shouldn’t be content to support sin in our own lives.  If we had any idea of its power to grow and devour, we would surely be more dedicated to squashing it ourselves.

Questions for Discussion:

• What examples can you think of in the world where a sin, left unchecked, destroyed something?
• What examples can you think of in your own life where a sin, left unchecked, destroyed something?
• When you see a sin “seed,” do you see what it will become (and therefore loathe it), or do you just think it’s little, manageable, and possibly even “cute” (and therefore encourage it)?

 

–by Stacey Tuttle-

Click here to read how the Prometheus Trailer Taps into Deep-Seeded Desire and Fear.