Many of the people I talk to feel that they deserve more out of life. They can express the reasons why they believe this should be true, yet they have no insight into why it isn't working out that way.
The answer is quite simple - they can't be trusted with more.
I'm sure they would disagree, but it is a universal law that your level of maturity in the area of stewardship of all your resources will largely define how much you have in life.
Does that sound harsh? Consider this: it is estimated that 80% of lottery winners wind up declaring bankruptcy within 5 years.
When people have the mindset of deserving something for nothing, money is the least of their problems. And since they are betting people, they can bet that the money will go away until they deal with their bigger problems first.
We can learn a great deal about receiving more blessings in our lives from the parable of the talents Jesus shared with his followers. You can find this parable in Matthew 25:14-30.
The Master
The master needed to be away from his business for an extended period of time. We can assume that this was a relatively common occurrence as he was grooming his servants to run his business for him while he was gone.
We can see from his actions that this may not have been the first time the master had left servants in charge of his money. In this parable, it appears that there is one servant that he had trusted on several occasions, another who had been trusted on one previous occasion, and yet another for whom this was the first experience in being trusted with the master's money.
Let's see how each of the three servants did.
The First Servant
The first servant, presumably having earned his master's trust on previous occasions, was given 5 talents. He invested it, and when the master came back the money had doubled.
The master was quite pleased! He praised the servant and promised him even more responsibility. With that increased responsibility would come increased independence and a better life style.
Not too bad!
The Second Servant
The second servant was given 2 talents. This was not as much as the first servant was given, so we must assume that the second servant had not shown as much responsibility as the first up to this point in time.
Just as the first servant did, the second servant invested the money. And again, the master was pleased, praised the servant, and increased his responsibility.
The Third Servant
The third servant was given a beginner's portion, just one talent.
Let's not minimize this, however! A talent could be worth anywhere from $1,000 to $30,000. This would be a very large amount of money for someone who had been a servant all of his life.
This servant was not equipped to handle the responsibility. Fear of what the master would do to him if he lost the money was a bigger concern than responsible stewardship.
As is so common when humans operate from a place of fear, the servant made a bad decision. Instead of investing the money in a safe place, he buried it in the ground to protect it. I doubt that even this did much to decrease his anxiety, however.
When the master returned and demanded an accounting of what the third servant had done with the money, we can almost hear the quivering in the servant's voice as he makes excuses for his failure to be a responsible steward.
As pleased as the master was with the first two servants, he was just as displeased with the third servant. He took the talent away from him, and cast the servant out. The third servant's worst fears had come true, despite his efforts to avoid punishment.
The Wisdom of the Master
We can learn several lessons from this parable. First, we see that the master treats each of his servants according to their individual capabilities. He does not use a one-size-fits-all approach to determining which of his servants he can trust in the future. He wisely gives them whatever resources he believes they should be able to handle.
God treats us in the same loving, compassionate way.
When you are wondering why God hasn't given you more, whether it be material goods or something less tangible, such as friendship, ask yourself how you are handling what you already have.
If you are not a good steward of what God has already given to you, it would not be loving for Him to give you more. It would be overwhelming, and like the third servant, you could make bad decisions based in fear.
Instead, God will lead you gently into maturity, withholding more blessings until you are able to handle them with joy and responsiblity rather than fear and poor judgement.
This parable also teaches us that God wants us to be successful in using the resources with which He trusts us.
Listen to what the master says to the first two servants: "You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master."
This is the promise that God makes to us as well. He desires our success in handling all the resources He has given to us, so that He can share His joy with us. And if that is not enough, we will also be given even more blessings to enjoy and with which to serve Him.
Stewardship is About More Than Money
One of the misconceptions I hear about stewardship is that it is only about financial resources. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every resource we have, from patience and prayer to creativity and time, comes from God. We are called to invest all of these resources for Him.
I have met people who faithfully tithe and wonder why they are struggling financially. I believe that this means there is some other part of their life that they are withholding from God out of a lack of understanding or fear.
God wants to bless you right now where you are. The only thing He asks is that you grow mature enough to handle the blessings He wants to give you.
Can you let go of the fear and respond to the trust He wants to place in you?
If so, you will have the joy of hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master."
I can't think of anything more exciting. Can you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Liz Shaw is a Christian Life Coach who specializes in helping people develop a successful and fulfilling lifestyle. Sign up for her inspirational ezine, Wings To Soar, at http://www.wingstosoaroverstorm.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
