What's In Your Hands Today?

We live in a culture where everyone wants everything QUICK. We are a people who have no patience with people or with circumstances.  If we can’t order something online and receive it in two days, then we’re not shopping with that retailer any longer. If we have to wait in line longer than a couple of minutes, we’re infuriated with that store’s customer service and vow never to shop there again. If it takes longer than a few minutes to get our food at a restaurant, we complain to the manager of their slow service.Sadly, our attitudes and reactions of having to wait for any length of time is getting worse and worse. And even more sad, is that as Christians, those same attitudes and reactions spill over to God when He doesn’t operate in the quick time frame that we want Him to.Over and over, throughout the Bible, we see God rewarding FAITHFULNESS. One day, we will all stand before God and hope to hear these words: “Well done good and FAITHFUL servant!” Not gifted, talented, joyful, ambitious, hard-working, prayerful servant (though all those things are great), but well done, FAITHFUL servant! In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable (an earthly story with a spiritual meaning) about three servants (workers) who’s boss gave them each a certain amount “talents” (a large sum of money). One worker received five talents, another one received two talents and the third worker received one talent. The first two workers took their money and used it to make more money, while the third worker was “afraid” and hid his money in the ground, only returning his portion of money in the exact amount he had initially received back to his boss. The boss congratulates the hard work of his first two workers by saying to them, “Well done, good and FAITHFUL servant!”. But to his third worker who brought back the same amount, he rebuked him by saying, “you wicked, lazy servant!” (Matt. 25: 26)Jesus tells this parable as an example of when we get to heaven and present back to God all that’s been entrusted to us here on earth.  Will we return to Him more than what we had been given to steward? Better than how it was given to us?God honors and rewards FAITHFULNESS. Our faithfulness to Him. Our faithfulness to others.Our faithfulness with all that He’s placed in our hands to steward: our homes, families, jobs, marriages, finances, giftings, talents, etc.What do you do between a closed door and the open door of opportunity that you’ve been praying for?  Remain FAITHFUL. What if your prayers are not being answered in the way that you want them to or in the time frame you expect?  Remain FAITHFUL. What do we do in the waiting on God season in our lives?  Remain FAITHFUL with what we do know and what we do have in our hands now.

Will we return back to God, what He’s placed in our hands during this season, better than how we received it?

How are you stewarding your marriage?  Is it getting better by the hard work you’re putting into it?  Have you been FAITHFUL with the spouse God has blessed you with? How are you stewarding your finances? Are you using wisdom and Godly judgment in your spending, your saving, and your giving? Have you been FAITHFUL with the resources that God has blessed you with? How are you stewarding your children? Your time? Your job? Even your own heart?Every single person and thing we have in our lives have been given to us by God. It ALL belongs to Him. We are simply stewards of what has been given. Have we been FAITHFUL with those people and things?One day, when we see God face to face, can we return the blessings we’ve been entrusted with, back to Him BETTER than when we received them? If not, what must you begin doing NOW to change that?Marriages don’t improve overnight…it takes a lot of hard work, commitment, forgiveness, and grace to have a great marriage. Start now with being FAITHFUL in stewarding well the marriage that God has given you. You can’t dig yourself out of a financial hole overnight either. But you can start NOW in making the necessary changes to become a good steward, through FAITHFULNESS in all that God has blessed you with.  The same can be said of your children, your job/career, your ministry, your friendships, and even your relationship with God. As we become intentionally FAITHFUL in our stewardship of all that has been given to us, we can believe with great faith that God will bless and honor our FAITHFULNESS!The fruit (results) of our faithfulness will take time to produce. We won’t see the results of our faithfulness overnight. There is no quick fix to our lack of faithfulness either. If there are areas in your life that you have not stewarded well, been found faithful in, it’s going to take some time to see those areas turn around.Don’t give up. Don’t allow discouragement set in. Don’t walk away from what God has given you to steward and tend to. But start NOW! Decide today that you are going to be a good steward and faithful servant to all that God has placed in your hands.Can we be as faithful with those things as God has been faithful to us?The question isn’t how faithful is God?  But how faithful are we?

Romans 3:4 (TPT) tells us: “God will always be proven faithful and true to His Word….”

God’s faithfulness is undeniable and unquestionable. It’s OUR faithfulness that we need to concentrate on. How faithful are we? Even in seasons when things aren’t working out as we had hoped?If we will commit to being FAITHFUL in ALL things, in ALL seasons, one day we will hear the words from our Heavenly Father that we all long to hear: “Well done, good and FAITHFUL servant!”