Have you heard Stephen Covey’s “Big Rocks” story? It goes something like this: an expert on priorities makes a presentation to a “group of high-powered overachievers.” To illustrates his point, he slowly places large, fist-sized rocks into a “one-gallon, wide-mouthed mason jar.” When he can no longer fit anymore of the rocks in the jar, he asks, “Is the jar full?”
Their response is unanimous: everyone can see that no more of those rocks will fit. “Yes,” they call out.
The expert then lifts up a large pail and begins pouring pebbles into the jar, periodically shaking the jar so they will settle down into the spaces between the big rocks. when no more will fit, he again he asks, “Is the jar full?”
This time, they are less certain in their response. At this point, the expert brings forth another pail. From this, he pours sand into all the remaining spaces in the jar. He eventually comes to the point that no more sand will fit into the jar. Smiling, he again asks, “Is the jar full?”
Laughing now, the crowd roars back, “No!”
Still smiling, the expert then lifts up a large container of water and proceeds to pour it into the jar until no more will go in. It is now obvious to everyone that the jar is, finally, full. At this, the expert asks a different question, “What was the point of this illustration?”
One of the overachievers declares, “No matter how full your schedule, if you try really hard, you can always fit more into it!”
The expert replies, “No, that is not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”
In Covey’s story, the jar represents our life and all that goes into it. The big rocks represent what is most important in our lives —our faith, our education, our finances, time with our loved ones, teaching or mentoring others. They represent our main goals in life; those activities we care about the most; the critical ones; the life-changing ones. The pebbles, sand, and water represent all the other matters that fill our lives; the less important, the good, the bad, the anticipated, the unanticipated, the frivolous. Some, like the pebbles, are important; they’re just not anywhere near as important as the big rocks.
[You can read the full version of the Big Rocks story —from Covey’s wonderful book, First Things First— here: http://www.appleseeds.org/big-rocks_covey.htm]
With all that in mind, then, it should be no surprise Covey advocates for us to do all we can to identify the Big Rocks. We can’t prioritize them if we don’t know what they are. And so, as Easter is upon us, I point out two very big rocks in Peter’s speech from the book of Acts: “anyone” and “everyone.” They’re huge rocks, actually. And they are problematic. Instead of putting them in, first, as we should, we usually try to squeeze them in later ... without success.
We usually talk about the depth of the Easter story —its weight, timeliness, pain, sacrifice, prophetic fulfillment— spending little or no time talking about its breadth. Peter gets at the breadth.
In Acts 10:34-35, he says, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” It’s definitely a Big Rock moment. Peter has just realized that God did not intend His blessings be restricted to the Jews; in fact, not restricted to any group. Any person, anywhere.
In Acts 10:43, Peter expands this already expansive realization to those who choose to follow Jesus: “All the prophets testify about him (Jesus) that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." Everyone who believes in Jesus. Everywhere ... No race. No skin color. No gender. No national origin. No culture. No political affiliation. No physical characteristic. No church affiliation.
The qualifiers are simple: fear God and do what is right; believe in Jesus. The unlimited nature of Peter’s words in this speech is astounding. Definitely worth pondering.
Anyone. Everyone.
Big rocks ... some of the biggest.
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PHOTO (be sure to watch the video!): http://www.franthony.com/blog/big-rocks-first
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Easter Sunday (April 21, 2019)
Resurrection of the Lord
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=132
Acts 10:34-43
Isaiah 65:17-25
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
John 20:1-18
Luke 24:1-12
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Easter is upon us. Join us Friday morning as we spend time in the Bible, reading and discussing the Easter story. Along with some great food from Waco’s “Egg and I” restaurant, we’ll enjoy prayer, fellowship, and a surprising amount of laughter (“What’s with all the laughter, Steve? Didn’t you get the ‘serious’ memo?”).
Blessings,
Steve
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