We often hear the statement: “Well done good and faithful servant”. We all want to hear those words said over us by our bosses and by our Lord, Jesus.
Are you known as a faithful person? What does ‘faithful’ mean?
Most people will define ‘faithful’ to include trustworthy, dependable, reliable, and responsible.
Luke 16:10 and Matt 25:14-30 (The Parable of the Talents) teach us that faithfulness begins in small matter.
Luke 16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”
Matthew 25:21,23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
The Parable of the Talent exhorts us to:
A. Use What God Gives Us
We are exhorted to be faithful in what God has given us. These include our talents, abilities, giftings, time, relationships, money etc.
When we do not use what God has given us, he will take it away and surely will not give us any more. Conversely, the scriptures tell us that when we faithfully use our little talent, God will entrust us with even more. Small things matter to God. Small things should, therefore, also matter to us.
Our future is built on the little steps we take day by day, not just something that plops into our lap. If we are going to enjoy favour, good things from God, promotions, increase and enlargement to come, be faithful in little things.
Matthew 25:29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away”.
In the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, the fourth purpose of our life is that we are shaped to serve God.
- We were created to serve God (Ephesian 2:10)
- We were saved to serve God (2 Timothy 1:9)
- We were called to serve God (1 Peter 2:9)
- We were commanded to serve God (Matthew 20:28)
God shaped each of us uniquely for service by giving us the talents and spiritual giftings. When we turned away from the small assignment given to us, we will never reach the potential that God has intended for us when he give us the various talents and gifting.
B. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
Some will simply get more than others to start out with. The Lord does not give the money or talents out equally. Total of 8 talents should he not have given each one 2.7 talents? But he did not. He gave to each one according to his own ability and we are accountable to what God has given to us.
To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48). If you have heard that line of wisdom, you know it means we are held responsible for what we have, not what we don’t have. When we have been blessed with talents, wealth, knowledge, time, and the like, God hold us accountable with what we have to benefit others.
C. Don’t Make Excuses
Don’t blame God when we are not faithful.
The third servant did nothing with what was entrusted to him. The master called him as “wicked and lazy”. Now lazy makes sense because he could have done something with the money. But the master doesn’t just call him lazy, he called him wicked.
Evidently God views things differently than we do. If we see someone not living up to their potential, we might think it’s a tragedy but we would never call it wicked. But God calls this ‘wicked’!
You and I were created for more than just existing and then dying, we are meant for more than just getting by and mediocrity. We often heard the phrase” I don’t have any talent”. At first that sounds really nice and humble but it is incorrect. To say you don’t have any talent is to contradict God. we’ve all been given talents and divine potential. It doesn’t matter if you are a one or a five or a ten-talent servant, none of us are empty-handed!
There is difference between potential and productivity. If we’re in the 20s and someone says ‘you have so much potential”, consider it a compliment. Potential .. our untapped capacity, the hint of greatness not yet developed! But if we are 40s, 50s and more, someone looks at us and says “You have so much potential ..” we need to pause, excuse yourself, step outside and have a good cry.
What once was a statement of promise is now an assessment of lost opportunity. There is a point where we are not supposed to be full of potential, we are supposed to be full of talent, capability and productivity. Don’t die with your potential. The fool squanders his potential. He is not faithful with the things that are given to him. When we live a life beneath our divine capacity, we dishonour God.
We don’t want to be a person of potential; we want to be a productive person for God in his Kingdom and fulfil God’s purpose – that’s divine potential.
In ROLC, there are many opportunities to serve God. Praise God for many of you who stepped up to serve God in different ways. We may be new in the assignments that God provides. We take it on by faith. Submit to God and He will teach us and guide us. Our encounter with God will be rich and real through serving Him.
We will enter into the JOY of our Master, Lord Jesus Christ.
“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” Rev 22:12
Think about it; how can you be faithful today, this week, and this month?
What has God asked you to do that you have been pushing back?
Tung Weng Him
15 Nov 2021