Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

Jesus touched on this issue of stewardship several times, and others did likewise. Probably the best known of those is Paul’s statement that “it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:2) We tend to have a number of problems in this area. Lots of people, perhaps even the majority, have no awareness of how much they have been given, which certainly makes them less than effective stewards. They don’t recognize that their every ability, even life itself, is a gift from God, and so make use of it in submission to God for His pleasure and glory. Others, particularly those with specific abilities and/or resources, tend to think they got those purely by their own efforts, and again fail to make use of what they have in submission to God for His pleasure and glory. We tend to be greedy for more without making proper use of what we already have. This is true even with spiritual gifts. Every spiritual gift is for drawing people to God and building up the Body of Christ, yet some treat spiritual gifts like accessories, “bling,” if you will. They want others to know they have them, rather than considering why they have them. Jesus makes the foolishness of such attitudes very clear here.

I think I’ve always known I was blessed by God in many ways, but that doesn’t mean I’ve always been faithful with those blessings. I keep coming back to the awareness that intellectual knowledge of the Bible is of no benefit if it’s not being appropriated and applied. Likewise, I have a portfolio of abilities that is intimidating to some, yet I have done very little with much of it. Frankly, there aren’t enough hours in a day or days in a year for me to explore every ability fully, so the key is in doing what God tells me to do, rather than trying to figure out how to use all the abilities He’s given me. I couldn’t begin to count all the times I’ve been called on to do something that made use of an ability I’d neglected, or even forgotten I had. I’m not to be anxious about it, but know that God has already equipped me for everything He is going to call me to do. My responsibility is simply to be faithful in my obedience.

Father, the longer I walk with You the more I realize that everything is by Your grace. Thank You for the blessing of that awareness. Right now You have me in another training exercise for trusting You and refusing anxiety, just as You’ve given me a message for Sunday on that very subject. Thank You. Thank You for the knowledge that You are more than adequate for this current challenge, even though I am not. Thank You that to the degree I abide in Christ, I will more than meet the challenge, and will grow as Your child for Your glory. Thank You for Your answers for the challenges that face us. Help me not be frantic in searching for those answers, but calm and joyful in the assurance that they are already provided, and patient as I wait for Your timing in revealing them. May I individually and we as a church be found faithful, so that Your plans may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!