“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.”

Luke 16:1-17 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. ² And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ ³ The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.’ ⁵ And he summoned each one of his master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. ⁹ And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰ “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. ¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? ¹³ No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

¹⁴ Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. ¹⁵ And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.

¹⁶ “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. ¹⁷ But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

In today’s text Jesus says:  “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”    It is important to note and to know that money or wealth is not bad or evil. It is not that having or using money, even for our advantage, is a sin. Jesus makes this statement in the context of a parable where a man used the wealth of people, and their love of money, to find favor with them. Jesus said:  “The sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.”    The point is we should use money wisely and we should deal with those in the world wisely in regards to financial things. We should allow wealth to benefit and serve us, and so to benefit the kingdom of God, rather than we ourselves serving money or human institutions.

The principle that Jesus is teaching; He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much, is not only applicable to money, wealth and material things, but also to all of the things we are blessed with by God. In fact, our stewardship with the things of the world is one of the ways we show our ability to be stewards of God’s riches. Jesus says:  “If you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”     What are the true riches we are entrusted with?     They are the gifts of the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 says:  To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.     Jesus says:  He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. In Matthew 13:12 Jesus makes another statement that seems unfair and unreasonable. He says:  "For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”     These two principles are linked. It is faithfulness with what we have and what we have been given that leads to being given more. Likewise unfaithfulness leads to that which we have being taken away. We need to use what God has given and blessed us with faithfully. For instance the gift of healing is something I am sure many of us would like to have and operate in; to be able to lay hands on those who are sick with cancer, those who are in wheel chairs, those who are blind or those who are oppressed and possessed by demons, and see them healed, restored and delivered is something most of us would love to have and see working in our lives. Yet, have we faithfully prayed for those with a headache or a very little thing? How can we expect to move mountains when we are not asking that very little stones be removed? Jesus says:  “Truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” (Matthew 17:20)  The mustard seed size faith that moves mountains begins with faithfulness in little things.

God’s blessing, the things we are rich with in God, also include the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 says:  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.    These too are God’s riches which we are to be faithful with. In Matthew 10:8, Jesus tells us the key to being faithful with the riches of the kingdom of heaven. He says:  “Freely you received, freely give.”    As unnatural and impossible as it sounds and seems, the key to having more in the kingdom of God is to give away all that we have and all that we have been given. It is not to serve wealth or any other human institution, but rather to serve God with all that we have and all that we are.  “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.”    “Whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance.”    

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; I want more. I want an abundance of Your riches and blessings, and so I pray that You will lead me in faithfulness to give all that You have given me, to use all that You have blessed me with. As I have been given much grace, may I give equally to others. As I have been given forgiveness because of Your great love, may I love and forgive others. May I truly be faithful in all that You have given me, even in what seems like a little thing. As I have freely received, I desire to freely give so that I will have an abundance and even more to give.   Amen.