“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 16:10
Has God entrusted us with little or with much? Do we have wealth? Do we have property? Not all of us are millionaires, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been entrusted with certain types of wealth.
Think about the list below, and consider if you are “rich” in these areas:
Work
Time
Skills
Talents
Knowledge
Finances
Friends
Family
Perhaps we can add to this list; perhaps we can subtract. I’m sure we have at least one item of wealth on our list.
Everything we have in our hands is a gift from God. And because they are gifts, we have the liberty to do with them what we want to. We can choose to do well at work, be trustworthy with our time, hone our skills and talents, study diligently, be generous with finances, care for our friends, spend quality dinners with our family, etc. Sadly, we can also choose to do the opposite: be careless with our work, misuse our time, waste our skills and talents, cut class, be overly stingy with money, snob friends, and forget family.
The Bible says that if we are trustworthy with little, then we would be trustworthy with much. If we aren’t trustworthy with little, then how can we expect to have much? A good question is this: can God trust us with much?
Think about this: if for one moment, we happened to be the richest person in the Universe capable of giving EVERYTHING to EVERYONE without fear of loss, would we be happy to give away the most expensive, glorious things to those who were irresponsible? To those who wouldn’t bother exploring or opening their gifts? Wouldn’t we call this waste a TRAGEDY? Wouldn’t we look for people who would cherish the gifts and use these gifts wisely?
We have a heavenly Father who owns the cattle on the hills and calls the stars by name. He owns the universe, and what’s more, He likes giving gifts! Matthew 7:9-11 says this: “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
I’m sure it is a delight in our Father’s heart to entrust us with a wealth of gifts—whether this wealth comes to us in the form of finances, relationships, talents, time, knowledge, or skills. When it comes to the Kingdom, each gift is capable of drawing us and other people to know God more. It would be good— no, VERY GOOD— if God could trust us with much.
Let’s look at what God has placed in our hands. Let’s be trustworthy. It starts with being trustworthy with what we already have.
Janina Marie Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of One Voice Magazine, a teacher of world literature, and a student of the Bible. She enjoys reflecting on life’s curve balls and plateaus. She resides in the Philippines, the country known for people who smile a lot.
