Matthew 25:29 “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

This is another of those passages that seem terribly unfair from our human perspective. Humanism tends either toward selfishness or socialism, and this is neither. The whole thrust of this teaching by Jesus could be summed up in the pithy phrase, “use it or lose it.” Jesus used money as the illustration here, but it applies to everything in life. All that we have is entrusted to us by God, and we are accountable to Him for what we do with it. We tend to divide things into categories of what God is interested in and what He isn’t, perhaps using Luke 20:25 (Give to Caesar… ) as justification. However, everything we have is from God, without exception, and if He even keeps track of how many hairs we have on our heads, (Luke 12:7) then He is interested in what we do with all of it. That’s not to say we are to spend every moment of our lives at church; rather, it means that wherever we are, whatever we are doing, we are to be living for God. That specifically includes our “day jobs,” as Paul pointed out with the extreme example of slaves. (Ephesians 6:5-8) What Jesus is saying in this passage is that everyone who uses what he has to serve God will discover that he has more and more, but those who decline to serve God with what they have will discover they no longer have it.

Again, this applies to me as much as it does to anyone else. I was given quite a package of abilities through genetics and upbringing, and I wish I could say I have been a faithful steward of them. Some I have put to good use, but some have fallen by the wayside. However, as I have used what I have, I have indeed discovered more and more that God has given me. Interestingly, very little of that has been financial, though God’s provision in that area has been secure. Recently the Lord has made it clear that I was to stop complaining about my lack of administrative and social gifts, and rather exercise what little I had. As I have done so, He has indeed stretched and grown me, reminding me yet again that He can do anything at all, even using me. I need to get that awareness across to the believers, because Japanese are self deprecating to a fault. That wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t believe the negative things they say about themselves! I need to help them recognize what God has already given them, so that they may rejoice to use it for Him and experience His multiplication, just as this passage talks about.

Father, thank You for carrying me through this week, enabling me to say and do things that were certainly not my native ability. Help me indeed communicate Your all-sufficiency to the believers, so that they may lift their eyes from what they see as their own inability and trust You to do great things through them, as they are faithful with what You have already provided. May we indeed be and do all that You desire and intend, so that multitudes may be brought into Your kingdom, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!