Our Duty

For the last several days I have been thinking about a comment that was in one of my blogs. It was, “Our motivation for making more is giving more.” It was from a book by Mark Batterson and was in the context of praying.

I know the reason it was weighing on my mind was because God wanted me pray that prayer, so I did. His answer was already in the works and came in the form of a lower monthly insurance premium. First of all a lower premium is a miracle in itself, but God was freeing up some funds in our budget with the purpose of using some of them to be given to others.

I said some of them because I don’t want to mislead you into thinking the whole amount will be used for that purpose. The story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10) came to mind and I want to be transparent and truthful. God has blessed us with some other opportunities as well which are also an answer to prayer and we are desiring to be good stewards of what He has entrusted us with.

That being said, I know He wants me to set aside a portion of the money each month to be used however He leads me, but always to be given to someone else. That sounds like a great adventure!

While this is an exciting new opportunity there is also a new level of accountability and wisdom that will be required. I’m accountable to God on how I use the resources He has given me and I will need to follow His leading to seek out and find the people and purposes that He will show me.

I read a devotional that was very encouraging for this calling, Come With Me by Suzanne Eller, “A humble-hearted servant keeps her focus on the need before her and her God within. That’s a heart I can use greatly.” She goes on to say that “as the disciples went out serving God they witness many great things and at time those acts of God were attributed to them. Jesus reminded them -and us – that ministry is not about us. Servant hearted ministry is about those standing in front of us.”

“As we exercise our faith, we will see God at work, yet Jesus served for the joy set before Him. Our reward is fantastic! We are eyewitnesses to faith springing forth in the lives of those around us. People are set free. Families are mended. Sin is conquered. Broken lives are pieced back together – all because of faith in our marvelous Savior.”

I pray that through this opportunity I will be humble. All of this belongs to God and He is the only one who should receive the glory. I can see that this is a continuation of the “You Matter” project. There will be times that words are what is needed and times when there are material needs that must be met. He is fully equipping me for both and will give me wisdom to know what to do and when to do it.

This feels like the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. The servants were entrusted with the masters money to use according to their ability and would have to give an account of what they did with the money. The highest honor we can receive is hearing God say, “Well done good and faithful servant. Come and share in your master’s happiness.”

I believe that sharing in the master’s happiness means to see lives changed for God. What a great God we serve that would make everything possible for us to be a part of His work. Thank you Lord for this opportunity, help me to be a good and faithful servant.

My prayer

Father, thank you for Your generous provision and opportunity to be a one of Your stewards. Help me to have ears to hear, words to say, eyes to see and hands to meet the needs whether they are words, time or material things. This is an opportunity to draw even closer to You and I pray that I will reach those You guide me to so that they will come to know You. Help me to do my duty with joy and represent You well. In Jesus name. Amen.

Where does my help come from?

Matthew 25:21

“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!’”