“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?” – Luke 16:10-12 (NLT)

Be faithful with what you have and then you will be trusted with more. That’s the word for today.

There are some things God gives without measure. His Love. His Holy Spirit. But for the most part, he’s given us a Kingdom where we get out of it what we put into it. Sure, the multiplier for what we get out may be astronomical at times – God is a multiplier – but we still have to be willing to put in. Putting in is an investment. It’s a risk. But if we believe God is who is says he is and that he can do what he says he can do, that sort of faith will allow us to continually invest. Faith hedges our risk.

Sometimes I think we get offended that the Kingdom works this way. We’ve gotten so used to the “unconditional love” part of the message that we forget we are called to produce fruit. God has promised he will give us everything we need to produce abundant fruit – inspiration, power, protection – but we still have to make a personal decision to step out and do what we’re hearing him tell us to do. He requires us to handle our affairs in accordance with his principles, and the result should be abundant fruit. He’s looking for it.

Our fruitfulness is contingent on our ability to trust Jesus. This passage of scripture in Luke calls all believers to a high standard of fruitfulness. It allows a weight to rest on us, calling us to a higher place of trustworthiness. Without Jesus, this standard would undoubtedly be too high. But with Jesus, it’s possible. God never intended for us to be able to produce abundant fruit without Jesus. He always meant for Jesus to be the mechanism for overflow in our lives. As we trust Jesus to abide with us through his Spirit and to empower us and work through us, we can be confident he will make us trustworthy in everything we put our hands to. As we stand in him, we can be capable of anything God calls us to.

Be faithful with what you have today. Ask Jesus how he would handle what is currently in your sphere of influence. What would he say? How would he care for the things that have been placed in your possession? What would he risk personally to take care of those who are positioned around you? In placing more trust in Jesus we will find ourselves naturally becoming more trustworthy. And as we become more trustworthy, we will be trusted with more in this world.