"The Measure of Faithfulness"

The following is from my book: "Gleanings Gospel Gold."

"The Measure of Faithfulness" - We can only be faithful in what we have, and that is enough. We can only use the intelligence with which God has blessed us: sing with the voice He has given us, witness and praise with the lips and tongue He has placed in our mouths or serve with the hands that are ours.

Too often we find ourselves seeking to measure our grain in another's bushel. Our visions of spiritual grandeur become no more than wistful thinking about what might be or might have been. There is no pleasure or profit in this fanciful approach to spiritual faithfulness. In fact, quite the contrary. As has often been said, "Of all the words of tongue and pen, the saddest are, 'It might have been."

We hear a beautiful melody rendered with great inspiration and sigh and say, "If only I had such talent, I would sing to the glory of God!"

We read an inspiring book and close it and think, "If I could only write, I would write a book that would point men to God.!"

We hear an oration delivered with great skill and sincerity; that moves and motivates those who hear it. We respond, "If I could only speaks so eloquently, I would give out the message of Jesus Christ."

We meet an honest and prosperous businessman who has accumulated a store of this world's goods, and we are sure that if God would only bless us with such wealth, we could and would use it all for the cause of Christ and God's ultimate glory.

We hear a visiting missionary tell of the challenges and blessings of a difficult far away field and are convinced that if we could only go there we could become great winners of the lost and that God would use us to lift the spiritual darkness from a spiritually destitute and oppressed people.

As one who attended a theological school and who has been around in the ministry of the gospel for many years, I tend to be a bit dubious of the young student pastor who attends a Bible College four years, preparing for the gospel ministry at home or abroad as a missionary, and never seems to get involved in personal soul winning, jail ministries or other vital outreach ministries in a local church. If he has no burden for the lost all around him, why should we expect a sudden development of a vision for souls as he boards a plane to his chosen field of labor?

God has only asked us to light the corner where we are. We are to be faithful in little things if we expect Him to bless us in all things. He has never asked us to responsible for someone else's field or ministry, but requires us to be faithful in all things He has given us in the place He has placed us."