Beyond Stewardship | More shall be added…

Weeks ago, another business idea dropped in my mind. I was frustrated that they keep coming and I can’t seem to give each one of them the full attention they deserve, to enable them reach their full potential. God replied straightforwardly, ‘You receive many ideas, because you are a good steward and to who has much, more will be given.’

He elucidated by dropping the parable of talents in Matthew 25:14-30. Talents were a unit of money back then, and when this rich man (God) gave these before He’d disappear for some time, He didn’t instruct them to increase what he had given them.

Here’s the first lesson; Job 8:7 says ‘…thy latter end should greatly increase.’ SHOULD means ‘indicating a desirable or expected state’ or ‘to indicate what’s possible’. It wasn’t ‘MUST’. If it was, then that meant that the guy who received one talent would have increased it as well, but He didn’t.

The master left it open, God desires an expected state of INCREASE for you and whatsoever He has given you. You can take on that expectation or not, but a terminal audit and account awaits at the end of your life. You had better got the mind of the one who knitted you piece by piece in your mother’s womb. Thankfully, He says He has great plans (thoughts) toward you, thoughts to give you peace and an expected end.

The one talent guy had no expectation! So, the plans God would have had for Him (if he was living in our dispensation) would not work, since he didn’t know what to expect. He had no vision. He didn’t know that he should have increased. Know today, that you should increase, in all aspects of life. Let that be bare minimum for your expectations at least.

Notice as well, the parable states that the rich man distributed the talents to each man according to their abilities. What abilities? Skills, power, potential, capacity, capability… Some of us are envious of others, forgetting to check our abilities! Perhaps if the rich man gave you 5 talents instead of 2, you’d be overwhelmed.

Now am I saying one’s abilities can’t increase? Of course not. Time and experience among others have increased the abilities of many as I have witnessed. Maybe, if you prove that you can handle more, then more will come. So do not cry when those trials come, more strength is being built up in you to handle more.

The third lesson I notice is the reason the third guy gave for not increasing. He called the rich man a hard man, reaping where he sowed not (Matt 25:24) He later says he was afraid of him, and so he hid the talent in the ground. The man (God) called him slothful and threw him out.

The other two servants did not fear the rich man. Could it be, that the increase of all we have is tied to how we view God? So many people see Him as a no-nonsensical guy! Ever serious with steam oozing out his nostrils. When He gives them talents to steward therefore, they’ll fear that he will kill them if he finds out that they made losses while investing…

But the other two servants seem not to have been bothered by this. They seem to know that He was graceful… I assume that they understood their master. They knew he would understand in case they made a loss during investment—but that would be foolish. They were wise enough not to be wasteful.

They must have observed long enough to see how this man does business. The things he invested in and what not to. They knew they had to increase. They knew he was going for a long time, long enough for inflation to make the money he gave them to lose value! And so, they did the necessary, unlike the third guy. They did not perish therefore, for they did not lack knowledge. They had it.

The third servant perished, and his was given to the first servant who had made a profit of 5 out of the 5 he had been given.

God doesn’t just want you to keep your talent. He doesn’t want you to steward it (manage and look after), He wants you to INCREASE it. In the attempt to increase the ideas He has always given me, even if some don’t launch out in the world the way I thought they would, He sees the effort, and adds me more. It’s a risk he is willing to take on all who won’t sit on an idea or business or talent He has given.

So, you can sing? How has it made profit to your master? Have your songs extended the margins of the kingdom farther? Have you seen yourself sell out in stadiums? (Remember ‘..should greatly increase’)
So, you can write? How many souls have been won as profit unto the master! For if in your different capacities you are increasing what God gave you (getting those songs from your phone recorder to being well produced and then onto streaming platforms…) then by default, some other ‘talent’ out there of some one who isn’t increasing, is going to find its way to you.

For the ideas that keep bombarding me, I am not sure they are someone else’s… Beyond, that’s not the point. The point lies in verses 21 and 23, where the man says, ‘…well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things. I WILL MAKE YOU RULER over MANY THINGS.’ And verse 29 which says ‘..for unto everyone that has shall be given, and he shall have ABUNDANCE, but from him that has not shall be taken away even that which he has.’

You have the mind of Christ, and the Spirit of God Himself. He won’t let you hassle on your own. He will teach you to profit! And to increase… and more will be added unto you!

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Isaiah 48:17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I [am] the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way [that] thou shouldest go.

Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.