Life is a trust. Everything that is given to us on this earth is a resource loaned to us by God and God expects faithfulness of us. Hence, life is a trust – God’s resources entrusted to our care. This includes our time, qualifications, talents, resources, and so on.

Every time I read the story of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), I am sobered up. In this story, the master was leaving for a faraway country. Before he left, he gave 5, 2 and 1 talents to his 3 servants respectively. While the first two with 5 and 3 talents worked to double theirs, the one with 1 talent went to hide his and therefore, had no gain of it by the time his master returned.

His excuse was fear – the fear that if he invested that talent, he could lose it all. We see how that this was not acceptable before the master. In the end, the master took the 1 talent and handed it over to the one who was given 5 talents and then cast the unproductive servant away. Truthfully, his excuse could have been seen as just that – an excuse, a way to escape being productive. Many would even argue that it is a valid excuse.

Today, there are so many similar excuses why believers are not fruitful with their time and resources for the kingdom’s sake. Many are afraid – “What if I give my all to God, what is left for me? Who would take care of my needs?…” But to this, the bible says, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it…” (Matthew 10:39). Also, God is not an irresponsible father. If He sends you on an errand, He is more than able to cater for you on that journey and even beyond. This is why Matthew 6:33 says “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”

For some others, the hindrance to their fruitfulness in the kingdom of God is busyness. Many are busy doing everything else but investing in the kingdom. This is weird because everything else would pass away, except this kingdom of God! Therefore, it is wise to build and invest where moths and robbers cannot reach. This can be likened to the story in Matthew 13:44, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field..” This man could only sell everything he owned to buy the field because the value of the treasure he discovered in it was more.

This is the mindset God would have us have concerning the things of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is much more valuable than anything else. Hence, it requires our utmost attention and investment. It may be time set aside daily to pray for the advancement of God’s kingdom or time set aside to go evangelizing. It may be resources (talent, skills, money) set aside for supporting the work of missions and the spread of the gospel.

Finally, it is required that stewards be found faithful. Let us understand that the resources in the first place are not ours. It is handed over to us by God and one day, He would require an account of these things from us.
Today, please reflect and seek out ways to active builders in the kingdom of God.

Shalom!