10 "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. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?
So how are we doing with what we have been given? I am reminded of a verse in Luke regarding our responsibility for what we possess:
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. Luke 12:48 (NIV)
Paul also gives us the following insights in 1Corinthians:
2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 1 Cor 4:2 (NIV)
7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? 1 Cor 4:6-7 (NIV)
God bestows upon His children a variety of gifts based on His grace towards us to be used for His glory and for the furtherance of His kingdom - not, I might add, for strictly self indulgent pleasures. In all actuality, our possessions, indeed our very lives, do not belong to us. Everything that has been given to us from our material belongings to our personal giftings are God’s and are on loan to us. We will be held accountable for what we did with what was entrusted. If we are not found faithful in our handling of God’s worldly wealth and possessions we will certainly not be equipped to handle true riches. I am reminded of the parable Jesus told of the talents. Familiar to most and while lengthy, it is worthy of addressing here:
14 "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. Matt 25:14-15 (NIV)
19 "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' 21 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 22 "The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' 23 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 24 "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' 26 "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 "'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 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. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Matt 25:19-30 (NIV)
Doesn’t sound too good for those who do not take God seriously in this! It is helpful for me to think of our subject for today in the following way. Everything in my possession and being in the here and now belongs to God – it does not belong to me. Yet, all that has been given me He graciously allows me to use towards storing up for myself treasures in heaven. In fact, Jesus bids us all to do this very thing in the Sermon on the Mount:
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt 6:19-21 (NIV)
When we build up treasures here for our own sakes and for our own glory, they rot or they are stolen and they certainly will never make it through the fire. Our treasures in heaven are eternally secure and glorious!
“Knowing that we are fulfilling God’s purpose is the only thing that really gives rest to the restless human heart.” Chuck Colson
“We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives.” Charles Spurgeon