“Everyone who has will be given more.” Matthew 25:29 NIV
“For the highest return on life, you must use what God has already given you.”
My thoughts today are about “a little more.”
I remember my Dad telling the story of the wealthiest, American businessman of a previous generation being asked, “How much money would it take for you to have enough?” His answer? “Just a little more!” Whether the story is true or apocryphal, I do not know, but it rings true to all our human natures. I think God created you and me with the desire for “a little more.” Maybe too many of us have just misdirected that desire.
God wants you to have more – more of the right things, to be used in the right way and gained through the right means. Read Philippians 1:10 Amplified Bible. “Learn to sense what is vital and approve and prize what is excellent and of real value [recognizing the highest and best, and distinguishing the moral differences] . . untainted and pure and unerring and blameless . .”
A problem you and I have is that we often want more of the wrong things, distracting us from “seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Mathew 6:33), and crowding out room for the best of things. A little more of the wrong things is worse, not better, than having just enough of those things good for you.
The Bible says, “You want what you don’t have, so you scheme to get it. You are jealous for what others have, so you quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your whole motive is wrong – you want only what will give you pleasure.” James 4:2-3 NLT.
More! That sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? More time, more satisfaction, more love, more happiness, more respect, more reward, more opportunity, more friends, more fun, more things, more money. The list is endless but the one thing all those have in common is the desire for “a little more.”
The problem is that “more” doesn’t just happen because you wish it so. Increase comes by choice, not chance. You aren’t just entitled to more; you earn “more” by your industry, diligence, and obedience – with God’s blessing! God doesn’t multiply what you have; He blesses what you give.
Jesus told a story that taught this principle. Read Matthew 25:14-30 NIV. Three workers received some measure of their master’s wealth for their investment on his behalf. Upon his return, he expected that he would have received more than he left with them. Two of them had been diligent and doubled what had been entrusted to them; they were rewarded with more – enlarged responsibility and opportunity.
The third had not done so well and was not rewarded with more, but left with less. Jesus summarized his story this way: “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.” Matthew 25:29 NLT.
Here’s how simple the principle is: for the highest return on life, you must use what God has already given you. A Christian author wrote: “It is not what you have; it is what you use, not what you see but what you choose.” That is how God determines how much He gives to your care.
My prayer for you today is that you use what you have for God’s pleasure and blessing.