Heart Tracks - Small Things

"The master was full of praise, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together.' " Matthew 25:21...."If I were to define my philosophy of ministry, I would put it this way; be faithful in a little." Richard Blackaby

I never cease to be amazed at how we believers so often see our relationship with the Father as a series of business transactions. As a bargaining session. We see a promise as a thing to be done, a duty to be carried out, and in return, He gives a blessing that we desire. Our flesh understands this. It stresses performance and the performance earns the favorable response of God. The promise of Matthew 25:1 is one example of this, and it has been seen in the lives and ministries of so many pastors, teachers and worship leaders. Servants of every type.

Most laborers in the Kingdom of God serve in places of anonymity. We're not seen or noticed by many.....but we want to be. We have good motives mixed in with self-centered ones. We want to reach people, see the Kingdom grow, and the culture change. At the same time, we want the personal rewards of that. We want a bigger stage and a more visible presence. We don't care to be off-stage. We prefer center-stage. We can also be very self-deceived about all of it. I know I've been.

When we read the promise of Matthew 25, what most see is that if we "show" the Lord our faithfulness in a small place, He'll be impressed and soon promote us to a larger one. The small stage turns into a bigger one. We don't say it, but we set a time frame on the faithfulness. We expect Him to see how well we're performing and so act to make it all bigger and better. If that doesn't happen in a suitable time, discouragement sets in. If it continues not to happen, we can so easily slide into mediocrity, or worse. We're disappointed, even angry. We did our part, why didn't He do His? When this happens, bitterness, resentment, and cynicism are sure to be added. As a result, the place where we serve Him no longer gets our best. And what they do get is more often flesh produced than Spirit. This will always be the result of the performance, bargaining, transaction centered relationship with Him. We need to be delivered from it. Desperately.

What we need is a transformation of our perspective. A spiritual one. We need to realize that His promises go far beyond the temporal. They fill eternity. Our reward for our faithfulness to Him in all places and situations is found in His words, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Those words of praise from Him concerning our life journey here should mean more than any other kind of reward....but do they? And we should know that the reward of those words then extends to the place He has for us in the reality of His eternity. Oftentimes, most times, the "much" He speaks of is only going to be fully realized there. Of those who labor mainly for the great things of this realm, He said, "They have their reward." Meaning we'll miss the full reward of the eternal Kingdom of God. How would your life and ministry, and mine too, change if we began to see it all as He does?

Whatever your place in the Kingdom and in ministry, how do you see it and how do you carry it out? Do you go through the motions in your bringing of the Word, or in your leading of what we term "worship?" Do you only get suitably stimulated when a good crowd is on hand, but relegate the days of "small things" to the mundane? We're told to not despise such days in His Word. Do we? Do you? ...Let us press on, press forward. There is reward for our work, and no work is insignificant in His eyes. If He's placed us there, it is of eternal importance. Do we give all, or just part of ourselves? Is it an offering of worship, or a business transaction? What is it for you?

Blessings,
Pastor O