THE MAIN INGREDIENT - FAITHFULNESS
Luke 16:10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?
Jesus is teaching on faithfulness.
He compares and contrasts “ordinary” and “greatness” saying if you are half-hearted towards the ordinary things of life (i.e. money and something that belongs to another person) then you will be half-hearted towards the great things in life – destiny; God’s kingdom or God’s vision for your life.
Personally, I would rather have ten people who are faithful, rather than ten super-talented people who lack faithfulness. Because it doesn’t matter how gifted they are, you will never get the benefit of their gift because they will never be around to serve with it.
When it comes to character, "faithfulness” needs to be the main ingredient. It’s the foundation upon which Christian service is built upon.
Jesus reveals pearls of wisdom in Luke 16:
1. The little things count. Some artists/performers like to wait until they are on the "big stage" before they do their best work. However, it’s doing your best work on the little stage that gets you to your big stage. It’s the same in church life. It’s the faithful who show up with a weekly consistency that receive the favor of God (and the Pastor) and go on to serve God on higher levels.
2. Handling unspiritual things count. If we can be trusted to handle unspiritual things, then God knows He can trust us with true riches! Jesus says, “who will trust you with true riches?” In other words, if you see the wealth you possess as being “entrusted” to you by God, you will use it to enrich God’s Kingdom purposes. Jesus is saying: if God knows He can get it through you, He will get so much more to you!
3. Serving another person’s vision counts. I heard a leading man of God once say, “You will get everything you want in life if you help another get what they want”.
When you put your own personal interests and desires aside and serve another person’s vision, that positions you to grow, to be corrected, counseled, and to learn the ‘stuff’ you need to know to fulfill all those desires swirling around in your heart.
The simplicity of faithfulness is it does not require a bag of skill sets. All it needs is for you to just keep turning up. The talent, the skill, and everything else will come in due time. God will see to that.