Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:1

Are you feeling sorrowful, believer, because your spiritual life feels weak—because your faith seems small and your love faint? Take heart, for you still have every reason to be thankful. Remember that in many ways, you stand equal with the strongest and most mature Christian.

You have been bought with the same precious blood as they have. You are just as much a child of God as any other believer. A newborn child is just as truly a son or daughter as a full-grown adult. You are just as fully justified before God, for justification doesn’t come in degrees—your small faith has made you completely clean.

You have the same right to the blessings of God’s covenant as the most spiritually advanced believer, for that right depends not on your maturity, but on the covenant itself. Your faith in Jesus is not the measure of your inheritance, but the sign of it.

You are as truly rich in Christ as the richest saint—if not yet in experience, still in possession. The smallest star in the sky belongs to the heavens just as much as the brightest one; the faintest ray of light is still of the same nature as the sun. In God’s book of life, the great and the small are written with the same pen.

You are just as dear to your Father’s heart as the greatest in His family. Jesus is deeply gentle toward you. You may be like a smoldering wick—some would snuff it out because it gives off an unpleasant smell—but He will not quench it. You may be like a bruised reed—others might break or discard you—but He, the Master Musician, will never do so.

So rather than being discouraged by your weakness, take joy in Christ.
Am I small among God’s people? Yet in Christ, I am seated in heavenly places. Am I poor in faith? Still, through Jesus, I am heir of all things. Though I have nothing in myself to boast of, if the root of faith is truly in me, I will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the God of my salvation.