Being Faithful With Little

In Luke 16:10 Jesus states, "One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much." The overall context of this statement is within a parable that teaches followers of Jesus to be wise as stewards of resources in this world to gain friends for the sake of their potential salvation. Jesus teaches us to use the life that is given by God, and everything that comes with that life, to be witnesses for the sake of others. This teaching reminds me of Jesus' interaction with the young rich ruler of Mark 8 and Matthew 19 where Jesus invites a young rich man to sell all his possessions to give to the poor and follow him. However, the young man is discouraged by the cost of entering the kingdom of heaven. The young man was only willing to do that which was easy for him, at the lowest possible cost, to attain eternal life. And this is where we go back to Luke 16:10 and realize that what Jesus is stating is that our faithfulness in following Christ will come at the cost of being faithful in all little things and greater things in life. The cost of following Jesus will be everything because Jesus is worthy of that cost and then some. We must learn, as followers of Jesus, to be faithful in the small things in order to be able to be faithful in the larger things that come in life. I think we are tested on this front in so many ways in our walk with God.

I recently read two articles regarding a prominent worship leader and a young pastor renouncing their faith. I think Christians, especially young ones, are easily hindered by news like this but what it demonstrated to me is the absolute reality that following Jesus in the modern western world is proving itself to be more and more difficult because people are realizing the cost of following Jesus. When we are young and naive in our faith, it is "easy" to be Christian because we are not counting the cost. But when we are faced with the reality that following Jesus means denying oneself and crucifying the world; reality hits us like it did for the young rich ruler. We realize that we must "sell our possessions" or in other words, we must deny all that we love more than Jesus in order to follow him. What a cost! And it is at that moment that some walk away from the faith because they would rather have that which they love in this life, than having and being with Jesus forever. Jesus warned us in his sermon on the mount that the path is narrow and only a few will find it.

I had the opportunity to go on my 5th summer project to Asia Minor this past month and what I observed in the church of this country opened my eyes. I saw a small community of believers coming together simply because they could and relish in the opportunity to serve in whatever capacity they could rather than looking at what they don’t have, they were grateful for what they had. In the west we have an unhealthy church mentality that our churches must all look and function in the same way and when we lack something that another church has, we feel that our church is not good enough. Instead of simply being grateful for the brother and sister next to us with whom we can worship God. They are being faithful with little and I have no doubt more will be entrusted with them in the future.

We must constantly assess and test our faith through trials in order to grow in our faithfulness in little, in order to be able to be faithful in much. Do not stray away or avoid the obstacles in life, but learn to persevere and declare the words of the apostle at the end of your life, "I have ran this race and I have finished..."