Steward part 5
Have you ever heard the concept that you have to help someone else build their thing before God will give you your thing? Well, I'm not sure this is one hundred percent true. Especially when--unless you're specifically talking about building a church--it can be hard to find someone who is building what you want to build. So I think what we oughta say is just simply that we ought to help people. And not necessarily worry about getting anything out of it. Now, having said that, look at this: "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (Matthew 25:21). Start small, I think is my point for tonight. Because I've found that the little things ARE the big things. Sometimes as seemingly small as listening to someone when they need to talk is huge. Being there for someone. And I'm not saying you have to solve people's problems for them. A lot of the time people don't want solutions. They just want to be heard. But in order to be a good and faithful servant, in order to be a good steward, we have to take care of those things we've been entrusted with. No matter how small they seem. That's the key. That's what we need to be able to focus on, or prioritize. Look at Zechariah 4:10, "For who hath despised the day of small beginnings?..." We seem to think that if its not big and loud its not important. But nothing could be further from the truth. I've often said you have to do something wrong before you can do it right. That's called learning and growing. You can't learn from your mistakes if you don't make any mistakes. And you learn way more from failure than you do from success. Success can make you soft. But failure makes you hungry. Point being--its not beneath you. Helping people, with whatever THEY need, the way THEY need to be helped, is not beneath you. In fact, its your calling. Its what you were put here to do. We were created to be loved and to love one another. To receive and release the love of God. To be good stewards with the gift we've been given. To experience and enjoy the gift we've been given by giving it away. By sharing it. And while the point is not to get anything, Jesus said that by proving yourself trustworthy with small things we will be given big things. When you do what's right on a small scale you are learning how to do it on a big scale. Ministering to one person is training for ministering to more people. And I'm not necessarily talking about talking. Or preaching. The ministry of reconciliation. The family business. God reconciled us to Himself and gave us that Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of reconciliation. If you know it, throw it. Don't worry about how large or small your audience seems. Don't worry about changing the world. Just love one person, and change THEIR world. Love the people you come into contact with. Take care of the love you've been given... by giving it away. Guard and keep your heart by keeping it open to love. Letting God's love flow in and out. Be faithful with the little you've been given and you WILL be given more. More love!