The Devil in the Details

Why small is the new big

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash

When Michele and I first got married, I became a professional do-it-yourselfer at home. Not because I wanted to, but because we were dirt poor. If improvements were going to be made, I had to be the one to do them. I learned how to lay tile and hardwood floors, texture walls, do trim work, and perform minor electrical and plumbing jobs. There wasn’t a project I wouldn’t tackle. I enjoyed the work, and the DIY mindset created in me an appreciation for small details.

For instance, if you ever invite me to your house, I tend to notice the minutiae other people would overlook. Yes, I will notice the curb appeal, the high ceilings, the fancy appliances, and the 80” television, but my real interest is the detail work. I’m not just looking at the beauty of the high ceilings, but how someone had to get up there and texture that wall by hand! I’m not just looking at the beautiful tile floors, but that one particular cut around that door frame and the skill it took to complete it.

You’ve heard the saying “The devil is in the details.” I have no idea where that saying came from. I think it means that the small details of our lives are the hardest part. However, in my experience, the hardest part of my journey is where I find God at work the most. Perhaps God is in the details far more than His counterpart.

I believe this is the heart of our heavenly Father. He is walking through your heart and your organization, admiring the small details of your leadership. He is not wooed and awed by the size of your organization or its budget. He is looking at the small, and seemingly insignificant details of how you lead. He is interested in how you treated the employee, how you refused to get bitter at a competitor, or how you kept your integrity when you could have cheated on your taxes. He loves how you are dealing with toxicity in your culture, correcting the finance department to be better stewards of the resources, and cutting spending to line up with the organization’s God-given vision. The crowds probably won’t see it, but God rejoices to see these small works begin.

The High Calling of ReLeadership

Let me be the first to tell you: This is a high calling! ReLeaders are essential in every aspect of life—business, marriage, parenting, ministry, personal growth, and health.

It is a high calling because few are willing to do it. It’s not flashy. It’s not celebrated. ReLeaders rarely speak at conferences, get invited to be on podcasts, or get offered book deals, because our stories are complicated. Success isn’t easily visible. It takes time. It takes grit. You can’t condense what we do to a simple maxim.

Instead, we are laying a foundation for things to come. As a ReLeader, you may plant seeds and build foundations and never actually see the finished product. But without the ReLeader, there is no fruit and there is no finished structure. There is only rubble.

You are called to revive what is dead, rebuild what is destroyed, and recover what has been lost. The real character test of a ReLeader is this:

• Are you willing to plant a tree if you’ll never sit under its shade?

• Are you willing to plant a garden if you’ll never enjoy its produce?

• Are you willing to start building a house that you may never sleep in?

Our culture loves to see things completed. We celebrate pastors, CEOs, and creators who build great things from start to finish. Our world rejoices to see the work done.

But some of us are called to different roles, and as a pastor, I’m here to tell you that God sees these roles differently. It reminds me of the story of Zerubbabel and Jeshua in the Old Testament book of Zechariah. You probably haven’t heard of them. They aren’t the kinds of biblical figures who get much attention.

They were significant, though. They were called to return from exile with the people of Israel and rebuild the temple after its destruction. They were ReLeaders.

The Lord spoke to us in calling them, and the words used in Zechariah can inspire us today:

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”—Zechariah 4:10

Did you see it? God rejoices in:

• The thing you’re doing that is still just beginning.

• The thing you do that is “just foundation work.”

• The thing no one else can see (and if they could see it, they wouldn’t care).

God is jumping up and down, rejoicing over your small beginning, which may seem insignificant to you. But why would we despise what God is rejoicing over? Let’s not call insignificant what God calls significant.

We’re not leaders at all. We’re something far more important. We are ReLeaders.