Being faithful with the ‘little things’
I was recently reflecting on my time in lockdown with the Lord and have found that while there has been no great crisis or challenge around me, my faith has not been gaining much momentum for growth either. In my quiet time I reflected on the insight that while I may find it easy to hold firm to God during my challenging seasons, a Christian that can only thrive in a crisis is a Christian that only knows half of Christ’s ministry within them.
In the parable of talents (Matthew 25:14-30) we see the servants of the master get tasked not with faithfulness in crisis, but faithfulness in daily stewardship. Two servants excelled and used the season of investment to end up with more than they were given, but one servant could not shake off their ‘crisis’ mentality and subsequently gained nothing. The first two understood that faithfulness occurs in the mundane as well as the crisis, the last one could only act in the face of danger. At the end of the parable, the master reveals that those that are faithful with the ‘little things’ are the ones which will be blessed with more in the seasons to come.
I’ve met many Christians who excelled in faith during times of great hardship, whether it is illness, financial stress or simply seasons where God reveals the depth of dysfunction in their character and personality. The common thing I see in those Christians I admire, is that they didn’t ‘activate their faith’ during the crisis, but they had been faithfully growing their relationship with God in the years prior.
How are you stewarding your life in this season? Is the mundanity of lockdown stagnating your growth? Perhaps it’s time to build our faith on something greater than crisis, to find a way of thriving which transcends circumstance. That is, let’s learn how God helps us flourish in the little things, because the little things are where the great things of God begin.
What ‘little things’ can you steward in your life better? Let’s start there, so we may be prepared for the grandness of God’s ministry later.
在小事上忠心
我最近反思在封城期間我與主在一起的時間，發現雖然我周圍沒有大的危機或挑戰，但我的信仰也沒有獲得太多的增長動力。在我安靜的時間裡，我反思了這樣一個洞見：雖然我可能會發現在充滿挑戰的時期很容易堅持對神的信仰，但一個只能在危機中茁壯成長的基督徒是一個對基督在他們心裡的作為只認識一半的基督徒。
在才幹的比喻中（馬太福音25:14-30），我們看到主人交給僕人的任務不是在危機中要忠心，而是在日常管理中忠心。兩個僕人出類拔萃，利用投資的方式，很有收穫，而一個僕人卻無法擺脫“危機”心態，結果一無所得。前兩者明白，在危難中要忠心，在平凡的生活中也要忠心，後一種只能在危難面前行動。在比喻的結尾，主人表示，那些在“小事”上忠心的人，在將來很多的事情上會得到更多的祝福。
我遇到過許多基督徒，他們在艱難時期在信仰上表現出色，無論是疾病、經濟壓力還是當神在揭示他們品格和個性中有嚴重的問題。我在這些我欽佩的基督徒身上看到的共同點是，他們不是在艱難時期才“激發他們的信仰”，而是他們在過去幾年裡一直在忠誠地建立與神的關係。
在這個時期，你如何管理你的生活？封城的枯燥乏味是否阻礙了你的成長？也許是時候把我們的信念建立在比危機更重要的事情上，找到一種超越環境的繁榮之路。也就是說，讓我們學習神如何幫助我們在小事上蓬勃發展，因為小事才是體會神成就大事的開始。
你可以更好地管理生活中的哪些“小事”？讓我們就從那裡開始，這樣我們便可以為將來神偉大的事工做好準備。
