Stewardship: Your Obligation to Multiply What God Gave You

“You can only do the best with what God gave you,” Forrest Gump’s mother tells her only son as she lies on her death bed. Although this was a fictional Hollywood story, many people live their lives as if these very words existed in the Bible. However, God expects more from us.

In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), a master entrusts his servants with his property. To one he gives five talents, another two talents, and yet to another one talent, each according to his ability. After the master returned from his long journey, his servants tell him what they did with the talents. The one with five talents immediately went to work and earned five more to whom the master calls a “good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21).” As a result, the master says this servant has been faithful with a few things so he will place him in charge of more. The man with two talents earned two more talents to whom the master again calls a “good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23).” However, the man with one talent hid his talent in the ground and this greatly angered the master. He rebukes this servant as a “wicked and lazy servant (Matthew 25:26).” The master then takes his one talent and gives it to the one with ten and says, “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he does have will be taken from him (Matthew 25:29).” The master then throws the lazy and wicked servant outside into the darkness where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30).”

One of the morals of this story is that God expects you to multiply what He gave you according to your ability. Therefore, “doing your best with what God gave you” is not enough. This parable makes it painfully clear that God expects a return on His investment. Not putting to work his master’s stuff got this servant thrown out into a place eerily familiar to hell where there was much “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.

In my opinion, this parable doesn’t just relate to heavenly gifts. We see this parable play out all the time in places such as schools and universities. There are students, albeit a very few, who are good and faithful over little things. They finish class assignments with excellence, help others through volunteering, and develop their gifts through extra-curricular activities. At first when we are in elementary school and middle school, this strong effort to excel do not seem like it reaps many rewards. However, as time passes, the very same students who were good with a few things seem to soar to greater and greater heights.

Moreover, some students sit in bewilderment as the rich seem to get richer while the poor get poorer. The “good and faithful” students seem to get even more stuff when they already have a lot while the “lazy and wicked” students struggle to hold onto the very little they still have. On the one hand, the “lazy and wicked” student’s get thrown out to the place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” as they face disciplinary problems; struggle to find sufficient jobs, face massive college debts, and other tribulations. On the other hand, the “good and faithful” students have no or very little debt, easily find great jobs, obtained great favor with their teachers and bosses, and are placed in positions of increasing influence and responsibility.

We must remember that we are all stewards of God’s possessions. We own nothing on this earth, yet are responsible for many things. All of our money, opportunities, relationships, and material things all belong to God. He simply placed us in charge of them for awhile in hopes that we will multiply His stuff for His greater glory. I pray that you seek to multiply the stuff God gave you so that He may place you in charge of “many things” and not get thrown out to where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.