Principles of Faithfulness

Our Possessions
Luke 16:1,2
Jesus told this story to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’”

When we are a poor manager like this guy in Jesus’ story than we can expect the same consequences. In the verses above it says that a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. As Christians you can bet that the world is looking at us to see if our actions match our words. Oh how the world system loves to mock us when we make a mistake and rightfully so. As Christians we have a great responsibility to live up to the surname that we take upon ourselves. When we publicly squander our possessions and fail to use them faithfully than God gets a black eye as well as us.

The other principle that we see here is that when we are wasteful with what we have been given we will be removed as a manager. I mentioned before that I was involved in several ministries that ultimately failed. I firmly believe that it was because I was not faithful in the little things like I explained on Thursday and because I was wasteful and squandered a great deal of the blessings that the Lord had bestowed upon me. There are other reasons why my opportunities were not successful but I believe that these were the two main reasons. The Lord removed me from the equation and I do not blame Him at all......as a matter of fact I praise Him for it. I thank Him that He loves me enough to let me fail and see both the reasons and the consequences of my failure.

Others Possessions
Luke 16:12
“And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”
In addition to being careful with our own possessions, we must also be a good manager of what others have entrusted to us. Do you abuse your employers office supplies or misuse equipment where you work? Are you wasteful with the resources your employer allows you to use to complete the job? When you borrow something from a friend or neighbor do you return it in as good or better condition than when you borrowed it? These are all questions that as Christians we must be aware of because in the end...........Jesus is going to ask them to us and we will be judged.

On another note...
This may be my last post for a while. I am going back to school full time in addition to working full time and raising my beautiful little boy, so I don’t exactly know when I will have time to write. I will still try to post 1-2 times a week once I get in the groove with all the new adjustments to my schedule. This blog is for God’s glory and I am certain that if He likes what is going on with it then He will find a way for me to continue posting on a regular basis. Remember......with God all things are possible.

God bless.

J. Robert Cipriano