Are you good and faithful in God eyes today?

Have you ever taken time to think about what makes someone good and faithful in God eyes. In Matthew 25:14-30 we find Jesus telling how we can live a good and pleasing life in God's eyes.

The first thing we should note is that both goodness and faithfulness are connected in God view. If you have one then you will have the other. God's definition of 'good and faithful' is stewardship, taking care of what He has given us. This raises the question of how do we take care of what God has given us? Well we can see from this story that it isn't just returning what God has given us, He expects more. It also is not doing the same as everyone else.

Good stewardship consists of at least duplicating or doubling what God has given us. As we look at our gift of salvation, have we helped at least one other person come to a saving knowledge Jesus? We are to be reproducing ourselves as much as possible, making disciples and this is what pleases God.

Are you good and faithful in God eyes today? If not we all have a chance to become so starting now.

Showing Reality

With snow gently falling I was reviewing the Christmas story and something about it stood out. It deals with our relationship with God, but should also be applied to all relationships.

In the Christmas story many people knew, heard about and even proclaimed the fact that the Savior was born. The thing that set some people apart is that they acted on what they new and proclaimed. They demonstrated their faith and love for God through their actions. More than hearing us proclaim something, God wants to see us live out our love and faith this Christmas season. Everyone who truly worship the Savior who had been born during that first Christmas demonstrated it through sacrifice. What can we do, what can we sacrifice to show that our stated faith and love for God is real?

Now applying that to our relationship. Yes, people like to hear our profession of love, but if that is all that we do our words are empty. However, if we accompany those words with action of sacrificial love, we will see lives changed. So what can/ should we do, what can/should we sacrifice to show that our stated compassion and love for others is real?