What Has God Put In My Hands?

What Has God Put in My Hands?

When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

Luke 12:48

The servant with the one bag of silver came and said, “Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.” But the master replied, “You wicked and lazy servant!”

Matthew 25:24-26

What are some things in your life that you’re proud of? Maybe it’s your intelligence, your athletic abilities, your social skills, your cash flow, or your musical talent. We tend to think of these things as ours—things we’ve earned, worked for, and deserve to do with as we please.

But the Bible indicates that everything in our hands—from our families to our reputations to our wealth—has been put there by God and is actually still God’s. We are simply managers—temporarily taking care of these things. Everything belongs to him, but he entrusts gifts and resources to us to invest in this world for his purposes, not our own. This means that we should look at every resource we’ve been given and ask ourselves how we can be good managers of them to build up God’s Kingdom. We should hold on to the things of this world loosely so that we can let go of them easily when they are needed for serving God’s purposes. We can be confident that he will give us far more as a reward one day than whatever we’ve let go of.

What God entrusts to us is valuable to him. He expects and requires that we do all we can with what he has given us—time, talents, gifts, energy, personality, life experiences, money. When we do, we can be confident he will say to us one day, for all to hear: “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” (Matthew 25:21).

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Can you think of a time when someone entrusted you with an important job or a valuable item? What was that experience like?

Read Matthew 25:14-30. What was the basis for distributing the money? What reward was given to the wise investors?

What abilities, opportunities, and resources has God placed in your hands? How can you invest these things for his glory?