I Cor. 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
As Christians we understand that we are nothing more than stewards here on this earth, we know that our bodies are not our own since we have been bought with a price. (I Cor. 6:20) All our possessions and faculties are only good gifts which come from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17) Therefore this verse is a direct admonition to every Christian concerning how we are to live our lives, and according to this verse the primary thing is that we be found faithful. This is a truth that is found in almost every walk of life, an employer would rather have a consistent, trustworthy employee, than an employee that works hard, but is inconsistent or untrustworthy. We see it all the time in sports, there may be someone who can hit the odd home run or catch a long touchdown or two each season, but the best players are the ones that are consistently hitting RBI or consistently catching the first down passes and moving the chains.
Christianity is no different, it is not required of stewards that we be martyred, or that we sacrifice all on the foreign mission field, our job description does not include being able to write a best selling book or pastor an enormous church. Every Christian though is required to be faithful, we are all commanded to not become weary in well doing and often times that takes more faith than a martyr. I have long said that I think it is easier to die for Christ than to live for him, death is a short, one time action, a devoted life requires re-commitment every morning. This means that when our reputation is attacked we keep doing right, when our family rejects us we keep doing right, when our finances suffer we keep doing right, when we feel betrayed by those closest to us we keep doing right.
There is a song I sang as a child, that contains theology that isn't too deep and yet we rarely follow it's words, it goes "Do right 'till the stars fall, do right 'till the last call, do right when there's no one else to stand by you. Do right when you're all alone, do right though it's never known, do right since you love the Lord, do right."
On the day that I enter through the gates of the celestial city I want to hear my Father say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord." The scriptures ask the question in Luke 18:8 "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" I do not know the day or hour of his return, but if he should return during my lifetime, I hope that I might be found holding fast to the profession of faith. If instead Christ should tarry, at the point of death I want to be able to say with Paul "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." (II Tim. 4:7)
All of this starts with how I conduct myself today, this week, and this year. Let us commit to being faithful to the things of God where ever we are at; we may never be a
C. H. Spurgeon or a John Owen, we may not be martyred by a reverse crucifixion the way Peter was or give our all in the heathen lands the way Adoniram Judson did, but we can fulfill the requirement of stewards, that we be found faithful.
As Christians we understand that we are nothing more than stewards here on this earth, we know that our bodies are not our own since we have been bought with a price. (I Cor. 6:20) All our possessions and faculties are only good gifts which come from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17) Therefore this verse is a direct admonition to every Christian concerning how we are to live our lives, and according to this verse the primary thing is that we be found faithful. This is a truth that is found in almost every walk of life, an employer would rather have a consistent, trustworthy employee, than an employee that works hard, but is inconsistent or untrustworthy. We see it all the time in sports, there may be someone who can hit the odd home run or catch a long touchdown or two each season, but the best players are the ones that are consistently hitting RBI or consistently catching the first down passes and moving the chains.
Christianity is no different, it is not required of stewards that we be martyred, or that we sacrifice all on the foreign mission field, our job description does not include being able to write a best selling book or pastor an enormous church. Every Christian though is required to be faithful, we are all commanded to not become weary in well doing and often times that takes more faith than a martyr. I have long said that I think it is easier to die for Christ than to live for him, death is a short, one time action, a devoted life requires re-commitment every morning. This means that when our reputation is attacked we keep doing right, when our family rejects us we keep doing right, when our finances suffer we keep doing right, when we feel betrayed by those closest to us we keep doing right.
There is a song I sang as a child, that contains theology that isn't too deep and yet we rarely follow it's words, it goes "Do right 'till the stars fall, do right 'till the last call, do right when there's no one else to stand by you. Do right when you're all alone, do right though it's never known, do right since you love the Lord, do right."
On the day that I enter through the gates of the celestial city I want to hear my Father say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord." The scriptures ask the question in Luke 18:8 "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" I do not know the day or hour of his return, but if he should return during my lifetime, I hope that I might be found holding fast to the profession of faith. If instead Christ should tarry, at the point of death I want to be able to say with Paul "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." (II Tim. 4:7)
All of this starts with how I conduct myself today, this week, and this year. Let us commit to being faithful to the things of God where ever we are at; we may never be a
C. H. Spurgeon or a John Owen, we may not be martyred by a reverse crucifixion the way Peter was or give our all in the heathen lands the way Adoniram Judson did, but we can fulfill the requirement of stewards, that we be found faithful.
When are you going to put all these into a book form???They are great!
ReplyDeleteThanks.