Students of the Old Testament know just how much prophecy is contained in these books – I am not a scholar by any means at all…but I have found some of the most eye-opening moments for my faith walk are when I am shown a prophecy made generations before Jesus that He brought to completion in His life, death, and resurrection.

It’s my own deep conviction this Holy Week that I have much to learn from the utter completeness with which Jesus fulfilled the mission that the Father asked of Him.

Jesus didn’t leave anything undone. There were the big things like the detailed descriptions of how He would suffer and die, from Isaiah 53. And the small things like riding a donkey into town from Zech 9:9; that could have been left aside, thinking no one would notice. But Jesus completed. Every. Step.

This got me to ask myself: when God calls me to something, do I complete my assignment to that level of detail? Do I take shortcuts, thinking no one would notice? Do I pass over the small steps to my own detriment – missing little growth moments that could lead to doing big things in which God can be glorified?

I don’t always have glory-filled answers to my own questions. I have to confess to trying the shortcuts, skirting the edges of the risky places where God draws me, clinging to the easy path and hoping the Lord won’t notice. Sometimes I want to skip to the leadership position or the spotlight role….and not fill the more-needed servant role directly in front of me. 

Seeking direction from the Holy Spirit is our only way to really know which step is the one to take at each moment. Sometimes it’s a big action, others it’s a support role. Fulfilling all of our calling takes a lifetime in whatever action God wants us to go – the trick is in hearing Him well enough to be able to obediently perform each act to completion, following Jesus’ example.