Augustine of Hippo: TinyBeasts and Remedies

This is no wild beast like a lion, to tear your throat out with one bite. But it’s often the case that many tiny beasts can kill. If someone’s thrown into the flea-pit, doesn’t he die there? They are not very big, it is true, but human nature is weak and can be destroyed even by the tiniest creatures. So it is with little sins. You notice they are little; take care, because they are many. How tiny are grains of sand! Put too much sand into a boat, it sinks it and you can write it off. How tiny are drops of rain! They fill rivers and wash away houses, don’t they? So don’t just shrug these sins aside.

You will say, no doubt, “Who can exist without them?” In case you say this — and it’s true, nobody can — a merciful God, seeing how fragile we are, has provided remedies against them. What are the remedies? Almsgiving, fasting, prayer: there are three of them. To make sure, though, you are telling the truth in your prayers, your almsgiving must be thorough and complete. What is thorough and complete almsgiving? Out of your abundance to give to anyone who has nothing, and when anyone does you harm, to forgive them."

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in Essential Sermons, trans. Edmund Hill, ed. Daniel Doyle, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (New York: New City Press, 2007), Sermon 9.17.

This is the first of seven posts exploring the theme of 'abundance' in the sermons of one of my favorite orators. Download the PDF freely here. Read a sermon if you ever miss going to church. You will find they are pure gold!

Augustine stands tall as one of the four doctors of the Latin or Western church along with Ambrose of Milan, Jerome of Stridon, and Gregory the Great. These four saints got the title for being prolific Christian teachers.

Augustine often uses creative terms to capture profound ideas. Today we learn about tiny beasts. They are the small sins that chart the course of our lives.

A pilot once told me that when flying an airplane, even a one-degree heading error will put it miles off target over a long flight. This is why modern navigation systems and pilots make many micro-adjustments to fight changing winds and keep the aircraft tracking perfectly toward its destination. 

In the same way tiny beasts can cause us to miss the mark of abundant Christian living. They get us off course. If we do not make routine adjustments, our lives will not end up the way God desires.

So how do we make the micro-adjustments?

Augustine tells us. The remedies are almsgiving, fasting, and prayer. These practices help us live for God and others rather than living for ourselves.

And where abundance comes into view links to the measure of the giving. We don't give scraps from our surplus, we give from the abundance that God has given us.

Let me give you an opportunity to practice almsgiving, fasting, and prayer.

I invite you to set aside your desires (fast), ask God whether you should participate (pray), and then dig deep from your abundance (give).

This is not for me. It's to aid war-torn Christian workers and the suffering souls they serve. Make a gift for Ukraine today.

I recently ministered in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan with Christ to the Unchurched, or CTU Global. I will volunteer with them ministering in Ukraine in December 2026.

I shot the header photo in Kyiv in 2021 on my first trip . This will be my fourth visit to Ukraine since the conflict which started in 2014 escalated to full scale war in 2022.

Click here to visit the CTU global website. Then click the blue give button to make a gift, and be sure to write "Project: Ukraine" in the "add a note" section.

If you do this, you will resource me and a team to deliver hope and help to pastors and ministry workers providing care for hurting people across Ukraine. Want to know more, read each post this week.

And rest assured that I will send a report to everyone who contributes in December upon my safe return, in Jesus name. Thanks in advance for joining me in trading in tiny beasts for abundant blessings.