Silas
Beloved
The question you left at the end of that devotional is one every follower of Jesus has to answer, not just once but daily. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace. That is not a suggestion; it is a summons. The story you shared about giving out money to multiply is a creative picture of a deeper spiritual reality, but we must be careful not to mistake the method for the message. The Lord does not need our fundraising cleverness nearly as much as He calls for our faithful, humble service with whatever He has placed in our hands.
Think about the parable of the talents. The master gave to each servant according to his ability, five, two, or one, and then went away. When he returned, the ones who had received five and two had traded and doubled what they were given. Both heard the same words: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things.” The amount was never the point. The point was whether they used what they had for the master’s purposes. The servant who buried his one talent was condemned, not because he lost it, but because he did nothing with it. He let fear and a false view of the master paralyze him. It is possible to be in the church, to hear the word regularly, and even to hold a position of service, yet still be that one-talent servant. Just being present in the assembly does not guarantee a ready heart. You may have no oil for your lamp if you are not actively putting what God entrusted to you to work.
So when you ask about putting your skills to use for the growth of the church, start by asking what your skills actually are. Not what someone else can do, or what you wish you had. What has the Lord given you? Can you speak? Then speak as one who brings God’s own words, not your opinions, but His truth. Can you serve? Then serve in the strength God supplies, not your own fading energy, so that in everything He might be glorified through Jesus Christ. The early church in the book of Acts shows us a pattern of power and multiplication, but that power came as they loved one another practically and proclaimed Christ boldly, not as they hired professionals to run a growth campaign. Much of what tries to pass as church development today borrows worldly methods, advertising drives, fundraising experts, strategies that count members like sales quotas. God never promised to bless our imitation of a system that is already passing away. He calls His people to be a colony of heaven, living in such a way that His presence is unmistakable.
I look at the long stretch of church history and see that we have often failed at this very point. The church at Ephesus labored and endured and did not tolerate evil, but they left their first love. If love for Christ and His people does not undergird our service, all our activity is just noise. And there are seasons and whole movements where the church has compromised with the world, legislated righteousness without a heart-change, or built magnificent programs while the life of the Spirit was absent. So the question is not whether your church needs repairs or a new initiative. The question is whether you, with whatever modest or great ability God gave you, are trading faithfully for His glory. He does not expect you to waste what He gave or to do nothing.
If you have been burying your gift, maybe out of fear, resentment, or the lie that what you have is too small to matter, repent of that today. The Lord is not an austere reaper waiting to condemn you. He rewards even the smallest faithfulness. Do not wait for a church program to tell you what to do. Look around you: there are people who need a meal, a listening ear, a word of Scripture spoken in season. There are ways to strengthen the body that no one sees but God. That is the real growth of the church, the building up of people in love, not just the filling of a building. Be faithful over a few things, and the master will see to the increase.
Think about the parable of the talents. The master gave to each servant according to his ability, five, two, or one, and then went away. When he returned, the ones who had received five and two had traded and doubled what they were given. Both heard the same words: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things.” The amount was never the point. The point was whether they used what they had for the master’s purposes. The servant who buried his one talent was condemned, not because he lost it, but because he did nothing with it. He let fear and a false view of the master paralyze him. It is possible to be in the church, to hear the word regularly, and even to hold a position of service, yet still be that one-talent servant. Just being present in the assembly does not guarantee a ready heart. You may have no oil for your lamp if you are not actively putting what God entrusted to you to work.
So when you ask about putting your skills to use for the growth of the church, start by asking what your skills actually are. Not what someone else can do, or what you wish you had. What has the Lord given you? Can you speak? Then speak as one who brings God’s own words, not your opinions, but His truth. Can you serve? Then serve in the strength God supplies, not your own fading energy, so that in everything He might be glorified through Jesus Christ. The early church in the book of Acts shows us a pattern of power and multiplication, but that power came as they loved one another practically and proclaimed Christ boldly, not as they hired professionals to run a growth campaign. Much of what tries to pass as church development today borrows worldly methods, advertising drives, fundraising experts, strategies that count members like sales quotas. God never promised to bless our imitation of a system that is already passing away. He calls His people to be a colony of heaven, living in such a way that His presence is unmistakable.
I look at the long stretch of church history and see that we have often failed at this very point. The church at Ephesus labored and endured and did not tolerate evil, but they left their first love. If love for Christ and His people does not undergird our service, all our activity is just noise. And there are seasons and whole movements where the church has compromised with the world, legislated righteousness without a heart-change, or built magnificent programs while the life of the Spirit was absent. So the question is not whether your church needs repairs or a new initiative. The question is whether you, with whatever modest or great ability God gave you, are trading faithfully for His glory. He does not expect you to waste what He gave or to do nothing.
If you have been burying your gift, maybe out of fear, resentment, or the lie that what you have is too small to matter, repent of that today. The Lord is not an austere reaper waiting to condemn you. He rewards even the smallest faithfulness. Do not wait for a church program to tell you what to do. Look around you: there are people who need a meal, a listening ear, a word of Scripture spoken in season. There are ways to strengthen the body that no one sees but God. That is the real growth of the church, the building up of people in love, not just the filling of a building. Be faithful over a few things, and the master will see to the increase.
