God has placed you in the situation in which you can best prove your faithfulness to him. He has placed you right where you can best serve his cause. It is today that he means for you to prove your sincerity, here that he means for you to prove your love, and now that he means to for you to prove your devotion—in this circumstance, in this sphere, with this quantity.

Somewhere deep inside, each one of us longs for more. We want more money, more authority, more followers, more of whatever it is that we find especially desirable or especially validating. “Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,” says the Sage, “and never satisfied are the eyes of man” (Proverbs 27:20). We live within a vicious cycle of longing, receiving, and longing all over again.

Yet the longing for more is not always bad and not necessarily wrong. There may be good reasons to long for more—more gifts, more responsibilities, more opportunities to serve the Lord. God is not opposed to giving us more. But he means to give us more according to our faithfulness with what he has already given.

Give me a bigger congregation, wishes the pastor! But what are you doing with the one you have now? Are you being a faithful shepherd over that small flock? And are you really ready to accept the weightier responsibility that will come with more?

Give me more readers, wishes the author! But how are you being faithful with the readers you have at this moment? How are you blessing and serving them with the words you write? Your faithfulness with hundreds predicts your faithfulness with thousands or millions.

Give me more money, wishes almost every one of us! But how are you proving yourself a faithful steward of the money God has already blessed you with? It is folly to think generosity depends upon abundance. If you will not give out of your lack, you will not give out of your plenty.

Read More