By Paul S. Waugh (compiled from Lighthouse research)
| Note – Because Paul has been so unwell, we are writing these articles from the hundreds of thousands of pages of transcripts of our Lighthouse research, in order to share with you—the reader—what Paul has learned and taught over the last twenty one years. In 2021-2022, the BBC unlawfully obtained highly sensitive and personal data through criminally stolen transcripts of personal and group counselling sessions and misrepresented them to the public in their docu-myth. An act of diabolical pride in and of itself! They will never live it down. They tried to decimate the public’s perception of Paul and all of us at Lighthouse Global, and have only succeeded in making us stronger, Glory to God! They know they wilfully deceived the British and global citizens. Repent! |
In the original article, “Willing vs Wanting: The Christian Call to Suffering,” I explored the difference between being merely willing to suffer with Christ and wanting to suffer with Him where it is right and necessary. There I laid the foundation: love and allegiance are proved in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, not in sentiment or slogans.
This follow‑up asks a deeper, exposing question flowing from that:
What, in my life and in this world, is actually a big deal to God – and what isn’t?
Because if we get “big deal” and “no big deal” the wrong way around, we will get suffering, love, allegiance, and even the Christian life itself wrong.
I. When Our “Big Deals” Are Really Small
Most of us grow up in a culture that disciples us into panic about things that are, in Kingdom terms, tiny.
We treat it as a crisis when:
- Our comfort is disturbed.
- Our image takes a dent.
- Our plans are interrupted.
- Our reputations wobble in the eyes of those who do not love Christ.
We can pour enormous emotional energy into preserving these things. We will even compromise truth, avoid hard conversations, abandon people under pressure, and dodge obedience to Christ in order to protect them.
Yet in light of eternity, these are not big deals.
They are like rearranging the furniture on the Titanic.
From heaven’s perspective, the question is not, “Did they manage to stay comfortable and admired?” but “Did they stand with My Son and with My people when they had to suffer, even greatly?”
That is where the big deals live.
II. The Biggest Deal: Wanting Christ to Suffer Alone
The original article makes a crucial distinction between being willing and wanting to suffer with Christ. Here, we push that same truth one step further:
- It is not a big deal, in Kingdom terms, to want to stand with Christ where suffering is necessary.
- It is a massive deal to want Christ to stand alone while we stay seemingly safe.
The big deal is not that some rare Christians might want to share in His sufferings.
The big deal is that so few of us do.
To say with our mouths that we love Him while in our hearts we say:
“You can suffer for me, Lord, but do not ask me to suffer with You,”
is a serious matter. That is not a sensitivity issue. That is an allegiance issue.
This is where “big deal vs no big deal” becomes eternal:
- No big deal: that a Christian wants to be found next to Christ when the hits come, where that is right and necessary. That is normal love.
- Big deal: that a professing Christian wants Christ to take the hits while they protect their ease, reputation, or social standing.
Heaven is not shocked by a disciple who wants to be with their Lord in the fire.
Heaven is shocked by the supposed disciple who insists on staying out of it.
III. Big Deals in God’s Eyes: What We Cannot Treat Lightly
If we strip away our cultural spin and look honestly at Scripture and at our own consciences, certain things consistently emerge as true big deals.
A. Calling Ourselves Christians While Refusing His Character
It is one thing to stumble and repent. It is another to build a whole life that says “Jesus” on the label and “self” on the contents.
It is a big deal when we:
- Use His name but consistently refuse His way.
- Talk about grace while making no serious movement toward obedience.
- Expect His protection but despise His correction.
This is not about perfection. It is about the direction of our lives. A disciple who keeps getting up and coming back is very different from a spectator who wants only the benefits. Christianity is not a brand.
B. Shrinking Our Potential Down to What Hurts Least
In the original article, I touched on human potential and how little of it we typically live. Here, the emphasis is not on how high we can go, but on what it says about us when we refuse to go there.
It is a big deal when:
- We deliberately choose the smallest version of ourselves that requires the least courage.
- We treat God‑given gifts and opportunities as optional extras instead of stewardship.
- We refuse to grow because growth means pain, pruning, and risk.
Avoiding God’s investment in us is not neutral. It is contempt for what He has given and for what He wants to do through us.
C. Making Peace With Sin and Selfishness
Every Christian battles sin every day. The big deal is not that we struggle. The big deal is when we stop struggling and start justifying.
It is a big deal when we:
- Begin to call what God calls sin “normal,” “healthy,” or “authentic.”
- Use our wounds or background as an excuse to keep harming others.
- Turn our selfishness into an identity rather than a sin to repent of.
At that point we are no longer asking for forgiveness and transformation. We are asking God to bless our rebellion.
D. Destroying Others’ Value and Credibility
Some of the most serious sins are committed not with physical weapons but with the weaponisation of the establishments systems through words, policies, and platforms.
It is a big deal when we:
- Tear down the character of others to protect ourselves.
- Join in reputational assassination, whether socially, institutionally, or through media.
- Attack and undermine godly work because it exposes our own compromise.
Even when these things are dressed up as “public interest” or “concern,” God sees the heart. He knows whether we are contending for truth or hiding behind it.
E. Treating Christ’s People as Disposable
How we treat His people is how we are treating Him.
It is a big deal when we:
- Walk away from brothers and sisters in their hour of suffering because the association costs us too much.
- Use others’ loyalty to Christ as a spectacle, while keeping ourselves at a safe distance.
- Expect others to take the hits while we take the benefits.
We cannot claim to want to suffer with Christ if we systematically avoid suffering with those who are suffering for Christ.
IV. What Is Not a Big Deal: Normal Christian Warfare
If those are the true big deals, then a whole set of things we treat as massive begin to shrink.
It is not a big deal, in God’s economy, when:
- Obedience costs us friendships, status, or influence.
- Saying “yes” to Christ means saying “no” to certain opportunities.
- Loving difficult people stretches us beyond what we thought we could bear.
- Standing for righteousness attracts mockery, misrepresentation, or hostility.
These things feel huge to us because we have been trained to worship our comfort and our social image. But they are daily bread in the life of anyone who actually follows a crucified and risen Lord.
We do not need applause for walking through them.
We need grace, faith, and the settled conviction that:
“This is normal. This is part of the war. This is no big deal compared to the cross.”
V. How Misreading “Big Deals” Lowers Our Ceiling
In the first article, I showed how our ceiling is set by where we stop wanting to take hits with Christ. Here, we can see one of the main reasons we stop: we have our “big deals” upside down.
- If keeping your reputation is a big deal and obedience is a small deal,
your ceiling is low. - If your short‑term comfort is a big deal and your long‑term faithfulness is a small deal,
your ceiling is low. - If avoiding certain people’s disapproval is a big deal and avoiding Christ’s displeasure is a small deal,
your ceiling is low.
The ceiling is not some random number. It is the height at which we say:
“From here up, the cost is too great. I will not go further.”
Often, that line has everything to do with what we secretly think really matters.
VI. Recalibrating: Letting Christ Define What Matters
So how do we begin to put “big deal” and “no big deal” back where they belong?
Not by psyching ourselves up, but by looking again at Christ:
- At His suffering and sacrifice, where we see how serious our sin is and how great His love is.
- At His patience, bearing with our weakness yet refusing to pretend our rebellion is small.
- At His promises, which constantly lift our eyes beyond the immediate cost to the eternal weight of glory.
As we keep going back to Him:
- Our comfort begins to look smaller.
- Our image begins to matter less.
- Our opportunities to stand with Him begin to look like privileges rather than threats.
We start to see that the real big deal is not whether life goes our way, but whether our life is spent with Him, whatever comes.
VII. Questions to Sit With Before God
Let me leave you with some questions to take into prayer, in the light of both the original article and this one:
- What am I currently treating as a big deal that, in the light of Christ, is actually small?
Where am I making my comfort, image, or preferences the centre? - What am I currently treating as “no big deal” that is actually huge before God?
Is there sin, compromise, or cowardice that I have normalised? - Where, specifically, have I wanted Christ to suffer for me while refusing to suffer with Him?
In relationships? In public witness? In obedience to something hard He has already shown me? - If Christ re‑ordered my “big deals” this year, what concrete changes would that produce?
In how I spend my time, confront my fears, and stand with others under fire?
These are not theoretical questions. They are the difference between a life that looks Christian on the surface and a life that is actually aligned with Him in the trenches.
In Christ
Paul S. Waugh
| Paul S. Waugh is a Christian researcher, mentor, and founder of Lighthouse Global. For over 21 years, he has dedicated his life to understanding the root causes of human limitation and developing practical, biblical solutions for realising God-given potential. |
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A Study: Why the Establishment’s War on Our God‑Given Potential Will Fail – By Paul S. Waugh
The Satanic Spirit: The Most Dangerous Spirit and Mindset on Earth
Grown up Christianity (Because Christianity is Grown Up) by Paul S. Waugh
The Judas Syndrome: Why It is The Greatest Threat to The Body of Christ
There truly is a relationship with God in what He wants from us. I was just feeling how, by avoiding growth, we end up disobeying Him and His desires. I know that current life is one big distraction from what is most important, following God. The less grounded people are, the more they get lost in small things. I have seen people go mad over something so insignificant.
We do not really have an understanding of who we are or of our value. God bless you for these wondrous insights. God bless you. x x x
This is one of the hardest things I have ever read because it’s so true, real and putting a massive light right inside my soul. I felt sick reading this:
‘It is one thing to stumble and repent. It is another to build a whole life that says “Jesus” on the label and “self” on the contents.’
Thank you for the questions you have laid on the table here. This is totally in line with your work on the selfishness syndrome and while this is hard, what is far harder, as you’re showing me, is running from the truth to try and avoid suffering with Jesus Christ. Starting to spend time on these answers is helping me admit and accept – not just acknowledge – where I have been avoiding growing up for a long time and what must change going into this bridging year 2026.
May God have mercy on us so we would love and truly obey Him out of that love.
This is very profound wisdom. I can see how the Kingdom of Darkness conditions us to think the titanic is all there is and the comfort of that trip is all that is there for us and to take me and us away from building a relationship with God and seeing our lives from an eternal perspective.
This is such an awesome article, full of profound wisdom—one I know I’ll keep coming back to again and again. Deeply convicting, and rightly so. Thank you, Paul. Thank Christ. And truly, thank God for His Holy Spirit working through His people to bring this to us. Thank you.
This piece really hit home for me. It reminded me how often I judge “big deals” by the world’s standards — success, recognition, applause — instead of by Christ’s. Learning to see like Jesus isn’t just a nice idea, it’s a necessary reorientation of the heart and mind. So much of life slips by unnoticed when we’re looking through the world’s lens.
Thank you for articulating this with such clarity and depth. It challenges me to slow down, to notice what truly matters, and to align my vision with Christ’s — to see value where the world doesn’t, to care for what God cares about, and to walk with compassion and truth. This is such a timely and needed reminder. God bless Paulie and everyone reading. x x x x
Thank you for this article and for addressing the root of the issue. It was a challenging read, as it shines light into deep areas of my life that I often avoid and try to run from. It calls me to greater honesty about the authenticity of how I live and exposes areas where I am pretending rather than truly walking in truth.
It encourages me to take responsibility and to seriously question what it really means to be a Christian. This is no small matter, as it shapes the direction of my life and is directly connected to my God-given potential. It has become clearer to me that being a Christian requires courage, courage to face my fears, my sin, and my addictions rather than hiding from them.
Thank you also for the questions you posed. They have led me to reflect deeply on my willingness to suffer, and on how much I am truly willing to suffer for Christ and for those who are struggling.
This is much-needed wisdom. Thank you, and God bless.
I know the profundity of what Paul shares here, has not fully hit me as yet but it has hit a nerve deep within. The reason I’m seeing and feeling that is because I know for example, there are certain “comforts” that I treat as a big deal and will go out of my way to fulfil but currently do not have the same fervency when it comes to suffering to obey Christ in some way. Every one of those examples of what we put above and before Christ and every one of the questions, have stung because of the reality of my cowardice in truly suffering for Christ. I am very grateful to Paul for pointing us back to God’s standards, not what feels nice, cushy and comfortable.
For it is said: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”-Matthew 7:13-14
Another great article on such a critical point and topic. Thank you! 🙏 I particularly appreciate the distinction that we’re being helped to make here, through looking at what is a Big Deal and what is not in the eyes of God and from Heaven’s perspective. That is just not something I think we Christians consider with anywhere near enough weight and seriousness as we ought to, otherwise we would be hearing about this distinction being taught and preached far far more. We absolutely need to look at what is Heaven’s view on our life and behaviour, what we are standing for and what we’re hiding from, what we are moving towards and what we’re moving away from and how much those things are in obedience to God.
As Paul says, “God sees the heart. He knows..” there is no hiding from this and so we have to search in ourselves, to self examine as scripture calls us to do, but I believe most of us already have a good idea of how much we are fulfilling this or not and so we need to turn in prayer, repentance and supplication for our hearts to change and grow more in the right obedience and desire to stand and suffer with our Lord. It can be a hard thing, to look and see that this is absolutely about our allegiance and to see ourselves lacking and falling so short, but it is absolutely a necessary thing to do to. To see that shortfall is so humbling and can be so painful in itself, but that’s the point. That can be the first point on the road to choosing to suffer with Christ more and more. Peter denied Christ 3 times, but it was his heart that Christ knew would come back to Him. “The one who endures to the end will be saved,” that endurance comes through suffering and taking the hits, where it’s necessary to do so, not sitting pretty on easy street. I pray that I and all those reading this can take it deeply to heart and truly live it. God bless and strengthen us all who seek and want to stand with Christ.
This is a significant article. It exposes where I and anyone claiming to be a Christian really is in our relationship with Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Reading what’s here shows how selfish my life is, particularly when it comes to my relationship with Christ.
It is, however, such a contrast to what is taught at home, in schools, by the media and by the government. The pursuit of gratification is what’s encouraged. At best we’re told to “realise our potential” but we’re never taught what that means and so by default we play small in our lives. I can’t see anywhere in scripture where it’s encouraged to play small. The closest thing to this would be when the disciples hid for fear of persecution and then also to evade the authorities’ attempts to stop them from spreading the gospel. That is not the same as what Paul’s expressing here.
There are opportunities every day that we can stand with Christ and I know things like fear of embarrassment, awkwardness or even boredom can get in the way of being a disciple of Christ.
I appreciate the questions that point towards reflecting on what’s here in prayer with God. So needed…
Truly deep and searching questions to ask myself and answer honestly.
I can see where I have deluded myself into thinking that I am a following Christ where actually I’m asking Him to do the work for me. What I can see is a big change to make is to stop the little micro-justifications I make to myself, that normalise a sin into a daily habit.