“The one who manages the little he has been given with faithfulness and integrity will be promoted and trusted with greater responsibilities. But those who cheat with the little they have been given will not be considered trustworthy to receive more. Luke 16:10 TPT
The Context:
Here, we see a rich man appoint a manager to oversee his estate. The manager must have been employed as a result of his qualifications or his reputation, but we see a departure from the norm. Rather than focus on managing resources, in line with his mandate and contract, the manager was actually wasting his master's resources. Of course, the rich man had to demand an account to be rendered, and he was going to sack the manager. Rather than decide to work hard at repairing his reputation, or at least try to do the right thing with this last opportunity, he went all out to swindle both his employer and his employer's creditors. Even the employer was impressed with his 'shrewd' and cunning way he did his final business.
We can argue semantics or we can look at this man's life and adopt the lessons his life teaches us. Let it be known today that, just like this manager, I have been given a place to manage. It may be a small house or big estate; it is important that I keep this reality front and centre of my heart. It is not the size of the mandate that matters, but that it is a responsibility with a determined end, and with a period of accounting at the end. I will not be at this work forever, but one day, the owner of the estate will come demanding an account. What would I have to say about what I do now if He comes right now as I type these words?
The Message:
The manager was sarcastically commended for his shrewd dealings, using worldly wealth to make friends for himself, even if it was at his master's expense. Then Jesus makes today's assertion: the world may commend you for your smart and shrewd dealings, but remember that I am the master with the final judgment. The world may celebrate you for making all the money in the world but my judgement will apply on the hidden part; the motive and means which nobody sees or knows. This is why all of us must seek out the terms of engagement with God, and make sure we are working according to his contract of engagement.
For Jesus, it is not the size of the work that matters, but the heart with which I do it. There is a man sent by God to preach and teach on the television on a daily basis, and there is another man who is in an unknown and obscure corner of the world, also preaching and teaching as sent by God. Men of the world may look at both men and consider one more in line with God's will than the other, but when did visibility and presence ever become the basis of heaver reward? Men will stand before the judgement seat of Christ and claim familiarity with Jesus based on miracles and signs, but He will deny them as workers of iniquity. We need to pursue that which God can bless into eternity, not that which cannot stand the fire that is coming.
Whatever it is you see as big now, God usually would have started it off as small. Whatever you see in a man's hand did not happen overnight; it is the result of daily growth. Maybe the reason why I have not risen above my present level is because I have not been faithful with the little I have been given. What impact have I made in my family that God will commit men's lives into my hands? What have I done with all the time in my hands these past months that God should give me more time? Hard questions, but if I will be given more to manage by God, I have got to prove that I am faithful in that which I have already been given.
The Response:
It is no use envying another man's season of manifestation. I have no idea what he has done to get there, and it is not my support or opposition that will keep him there or get him out, but the will of the master he works for. If the master is pleased to promote him, there is nothing anyone can do about it. If He decides to replace him also, there is nothing anyone can do about it. While I still have time, I had better focus on the work I have been given, ignore the distractions of men's opinions and let God's work in my hands speak of God's power and glory.
If I seek greater work, have I started where I am at the moment with what God has placed in my hands? Can God trust that I will do my best with what I have, no matter the label, level or labour involved? Remember, the One who owns the work is the one who assigns tasks; it is not my campaign that works but God's willl and purpose. I seek God out today, and I ask Him to help me focus on that which is eternally relevant. I do not have all the time in the world; I am placed here for a reason and a season, and my greatest gift to God is to discover that reason, and make this the best season the world around me has ever known. His time of favour is here.
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