Da Cai Xiao Yong

by Jeffery Kingry
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 16 No. 1, March 31, 1990

In the middle ages, the famous Chinese poet Xin Oiji (Shin Chee-gee) pleaded with the emperor to withstand the Kin invaders, but it was a generation of appeasement and indulgence. The emperor’s ministers advised him to wait, not recover lost territories, and consolidate what was left in the South. It was a time of short-sightedness, and the Liao Dynasty fell to the Kin. The last Liao emperor lost his chance for glory and, ultimately, his head.

The poet Xin penned a famous poem in the last days in which there was the immortal line,

"Large material put to petty use,
Since the beginning, people have sighed at such waste."

My Chinese friends tell me that the idiom "Da Cai Xiao Yong" is challenging to bring literally into English ("Great Ability, Raw Material Petty/Small Use"). Imagine a woman cutting a small scarf out of the middle of a large bolt of silk, and you get the idea. It reminds me of visiting the castles of England and China in all their gilded splendor and unbelievable wealth for indulging one family. While the commoner who worked all day in the field starved in his hovel, the plump lord had rooms into which he had never stepped. The Liao emperor had wasted his empire by not using it against the enemy.

We also are engaged in a great war with one who would destroy us, and as faithful warriors, we are to fight the good fight of faith (I Timothy 1:18-19; 6:12). Our glory is to be found in our work to spread the gospel. "For what is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? Fro ye are our glory and joy" (I Thessalonians 2:19). How sad if we were to conserve our great wealth, evangelistic ability, heritage of faithful Bible study, wisdom, and strength instead of using it for a glorious victory against Satan and for God. What would we call putting the seed back on the shelf but "Da Cai Xiao Yong?"