Sunday, 12 November 2023
The time has come for an explanation as to why it is that many are called, but few are chosen [Matthew 22:14], and what it is to be chosen over just being called. After feeding five thousand people from five barley loaves and two fish, we see Jesus instruct the disciples to gather what the NKJV calls fragments and the NLT calls leftovers of the barley loaves so nothing is lost [John 6:12-13]. Later on, Jesus makes it a point to remind the disciples of this very crucial thing that He had them do when He had them gather what the NKJV calls fragments and the NLT calls leftovers of the miraculous bounty that had fed the thousands [Mark 8:19-20]. The Son of Man, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, was meticulous in how He took care of the grace that GOD afforded Him to perform these miracles and He was just as meticulous about not being wasteful with the abundance (the surplus) that inevitably remained from the miracles. Jesus was meticulous in His stewardship of the grace to do the will of HIM who sent Him.
Jesus stood in a position of immense privilege with GOD as the one and only Son begotten by the Holy Spirit, a privilege like no other had before Him, a privilege like no other has had after Him, and yet Jesus paid special attention to how He took care of the things, the blessings, and the grace of GOD in and over His life. GOD has extended His divine mercies upon us by His grace, love, kindness, and compassion over our lives; And the problem is not that that the grace of the Lord has not been extended to us because it has, GOD has indeed blessed us; Sometimes the problem is that we are just not aware of the blessing, that we do not take care of what GOD has blessed us with, and that we do not know how to maintain and care for the blessing. Throughout the scriptures referenced today, Jesus teaches a simple principle – anything that GOD gives has the innate ability within it to increase, and it will increase when you know how to take care of it, how to maintain it, how to manage it, and that your stewardship of the things, gifts and grace of GOD is what activates the things’ innate ability to increase.
Scripture is littered with Jesus exemplifying this principle in how He manages His ability to perform miracles, signs, and wonders; Jesus’ stewardship with each miracle that GOD graced Him with unlocked increase and GOD kept on increasing His ability to perform even more miracles. For most of us, our problem is one of mismanaging what GOD gives us. The difference between being born and dying is the time GOD extends to us through His kindness, grace, love, and compassion; We all know that we do not have this time forever here on earth; this time is lended to us, given to us, this time is entrusted to us by the LORD; but how are we stewarding and taking care of the time that GOD has given us, how are we making use of that time? Do we even understand why GOD blesses when GOD blesses, because if we do not know or understand why GOD blesses we are very likely to mismanage, waste, and eventually lose the blessing. Knowing and understanding why GOD blesses speaks to how those He has blessed steward the blessing, steward the grace, steward the things given. GOD does not bless you to move you away from Him; GOD blesses you to keep you closer to Him.
Another hindrance to humans is that we view blessings in money when the reality is that GOD blesses us with His compassions every single day, that GOD showers us with a steadfast love and tender mercies each day, and that we live by the grace of these compassions and mercies that are new every morning [Lamentations 3:22-23]. It is because of the blessing, kindness, and love of GOD that in GOD we live, in GOD we move, and in GOD we have our being. We often overlook these mercies, compassions, and grace from the LORD; We often fail in our stewardship and management of these blessings. Everything comes from GOD and as a person you have nothing, you own nothing. Your relationships, friendships, marriages, children, jobs, businesses, careers, qualifications, intelligence, intellect, assets, and even the nothing also come from GOD. Absolutely everything. Nothing that you acquire is by your might or by your power, but it is by the grace of GOD. You need to (and must) disabuse yourself from the notion of ownership because you own nothing; You are but a mere caretaker of it all, a steward.
The mismanagement of the blessings that GOD gives you, leads to unnecessary discomfort, unnecessary pain, and unnecessary loss in your life because whatever you are unable to manage, maintain or take care of, you are bound to lose. Some of us were blessed with money, good fortune, opportunities, connections, and business success but have now lost everything – why and how did we lose those things? The answer really boils down to our stewardship, our management, of the blessing; our unfaithfulness and poor stewardship of the blessing. We pray for blessings but because GOD is particular with what He entrusts to us, the blessings we pray for then become a test from GOD for Him to see how we will handle and take care of it. GOD wants to see if He can assign something to you, entrust you, and know that thing will prosper and increase under your stewardship; the management of what you have been entrusted with (what has been given into our care) is key and critical to receiving blessings. Jesus knew that if He had been careless with turning mere simple water into wine, GOD might not have entrusted Him with healing the sick, multiplying food, and raising the dead; and it was because of Jesus’s prudent stewardship that GOD kept adding, increasing, and multiplying miracles.
If your stewardship of the gift of the spirit sucks before GOD, that gift of the spirit will die and you will lose that gift. GOD is looking for and is calling for our stewardship, responsibility, and accountability in the small things, that we tend to disregard and overlook so that He can commission bigger things and greater responsibilities to us [Luke 16:1, 10]. GOD is looking for our faithfulness in prayer, studying the word, consecration, serving, attending church, living by faith, helping others, being led by the Holy Spirit, obedience, and submission to spiritual leadership. Unfaithfulness and lack of prudent stewardship are some of the reasons why GOD delays an answer to prayer because GOD does not give and does not bless to waste. The Son of Man knew that even in the abundance He still needed to be faithful and care for the little that remained (by having the fragments/leftovers gathered) so that nothing that had been entrusted to Him was lost. Until you learn to handle a blessing, a miracle, or a breakthrough you might not receive one/another from GOD. GOD has consistently applied this principle and will not answer a prayer that is outside of the framework of this principle.
Humble yourself and be faithful and diligent to GOD; Repent, learn the lesson, and change and GOD will lift you up again. Know that the higher GOD takes you, the more you need to die to self. This is the spiritual reality for the believers. GOD gives and builds from the little to much more based on our faithfulness with and stewardship of the little. This is GOD’s spiritual principle, the stewardship principle. It is unchangeable. Have faithfulness with the little and see what GOD will unleash. Prudent stewardship has the inevitable result of abundance, increase, addition, and multiplication, with GOD entrusting you with true heavenly riches that no one can take away from you, your heavenly assignment [Matthew 25:23, 29]. Stewardship is an attitude, a mentality, a habit, learned behaviour; and diligent stewardship is our responsibility, accountability, and faithfulness to the Lord. GOD entrusts only stewards; He will not entrust just anyone; And this is why many are called but few are chosen. It is your stewardship that is going to set you apart from the many. The call will require the death of you and if you disobey, resist or refuse to die, you will be the called that will not be chosen. Stewards obey the Lord’s call on them to die to self consistently, and GOD consistently entrusts them to steward the blessing.
“Prudent stewardship has the inevitable result of abundance, increase, addition, and multiplication, with GOD entrusting you with true heavenly riches that no one can take away from you, your heavenly assignment
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