I've had a thought on my mind that I'm going to expand on Sunday. But I wanted to get it out there and let people start thinking about it. It comes from Luke 19:11-26. It's the Parable of the Ten Minas. Click the link and read the parable before you go on.
I've been thinking about how practical God is in the way that he guides us. The principle in this parable is that those who can be entrusted with a little will also be trusted with a lot. How sensible! This should ring true with any parent, project leader, administrator, business owner, or anyone else who is in a position of authority over others. When you have a task that needs to get done but the person to whom it is assigned falls through, you would never turn around and give them a BIGGER task! At the very least you would give them another task of similar size and start training them up in responsibility, follow through, diligence, etc. Someone that cannot fulfill the most menial task would be destined to fail if they were assigned something much bigger.
God works the same way. Sometimes it's financially, as on the surface of this parable. As you are a faithful steward of your resources, you will find your money going farther and, in some cases, strange blessings will come your way because you are wise, disciplined and faithful. God says that if you are wise with a little, the same principles will cause you to be wise when you have a lot. If you are foolish with a little, you would likely be foolish if you suddenly had plenty.
This parable goes deeper, though, and God treats our spirit the same way. We often want to know God's specific plan. We want to know what he has in store for us. Where to go next, what to do next, etc. Maybe you are not in a time of spiritual plenty. Maybe you want more from God. You want him to reveal himself, or for a spiritual relationship with him to just "happen." What this parable teaches is that you have to be faithful with what you've got. Are you busy? You will always be. Make time for God now. Make him a priority now. Are you financially strapped? That will likely not change too much unless you start changing your money principles now. Do you not feel like God is close? Do things to close the gap and build that relationship now. Don't wait for him to talk to you out of the clouds. Be a faithful steward of the position you are in today. When you prove that you can be trusted with a little, God will often begin to entrust much more to you.
