We Are Entrusted

Everything we see or come into contact with is in a state of constant flux and change, we hear of wars and the things that happen in them and we are disturbed, then there are disasters, earthquakes, floods, and fires, we hear about injustice and corruption, people treating other people badly, and we are again disturbed by what we hear. Sometimes we give so much attention to it that sometimes we neglect the important things in our lives like family, church functions, friendships, and most importantly spending time in the scriptures and meditating on the things of God. We really want to be involved in these things and do our parts, but some how we get derailed along the way, things seem to always get in the way just as we sit down to focus our attention to the things that we consider so important.

Sometimes these distractions cause us to give ground in our spiritual life and miss out on many of God's blessings, so we end up trying to justify the reasons why we have to give those diversions more attention than the attention we give our spiritual lives.

When the kids are home I have to devote all my attention to them.
I have a deadline on my job, that must be met, or everything will become utter chaos.
There's a game on today that I just can't risk missing.
I'm too tired and I'll do it later.

The fact is there aren't any excuses we can use to justify putting everything else before the things of God. People have been putting God last in their lives for as long as they can remember, everything is always going to be more important to them than the things of God, besides you don't want to look religious, be a fanatic, have people think that you're narrow minded, always be talking about God do you ?

Yet we are always ready to go to a sporting event, a concert and scream our lungs out until our throats become horse, but we don't want to get fanatical for God.

The word fan that we use for sports and our favorite movie star or musician comes from the word fanatic…why can't you be a fan of God ? Why can't we get as excited for God as you do for some event ?

Why is it that some of us are watching our watches while we are in church, hoping to get out in time, because of something we want to do instead of hoping God's Spirit will fall and miracles will happen, no matter what time it is ?

But we as Christians aren't supposed to let these questions and things be an issue in our lives. If we are Christians we do all the things that everyone else doesn't want to do, because we are set apart for God, and not for the things of this world. We have to become faithful stewards of the things that God has entrusted us with, we have to become like the apostle Paul, entrusted with the Proclamation of the things of God. God has to be able to depend on us to get his work in this world accomplished; we must be faithful to be of service to him in this world.

If we have a job in this world we are required to be there at a certain time, to do a certain amount of work diligently while we are there on our employer's time. We are expected to do the task that our employer assigns us to do and do it as he wants it done. If we don't do it the way he wants he has two options:

1. He can reprimand us and insist we do it his way….or
2. He can fire us, then replace us with someone who will do the job his way.

But however he does it, he gets his will done.

God is the same way, he gives us the opportunity to do his will and be blessed beyond our own understanding, or he allows us to become ineffective and miss out on all the blessings that he has for us in our lives. Basically we are fired by God until we step up and do our jobs. Paul the apostle understood this principal very well and wrote to Timothy about it.

realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service. 1 Timothy 1:9-12

What a huge responsibility God gives us. He does it because we can be entrusted to do the service that He wants us to perform for him, he considers us faithful enough to make his will happen through us, because he can depend on us to do the job.

Are you dependable to God ?

That is a responsibility that we should never take lightly. If we fail him repeatedly then he eventually finds someone else to do his will, and we end up missing out on the blessings that would have come our way, if we were dependable with the task we were entrusted with. Paul was as you know a persecutor of the church, he was there when Stephen was stoned to death for proclaiming the gospel of Christ, he watched the coats of those stoning him so that no one would steal them as they were throwing the rocks. He approved of what was taking place and he enjoyed it. He chased Christians, persecuted the church ferociously, until the day that God dealt with him on the road to Damascus. God saved him, filled him with the Holy Spirit, and entrusted him with his gospel, and then put him into service for Him.

I look at Paul and I wonder if he would have been the same person now that he was then. Do you think he would have been a kinder, more politically correct type of apostle than he was then if he lived now ?

I don't think so.

I think if he lived today, he would be even more zealous then he was then, if he were to see what this world had become. I think he would have a lot more urgency to get his gospel across to this unbelieving generation that he did then because of the amount of apathy and unbelief that exist in the church today, especially in the United States where our faith has been tried so little and we hide so much from those who sit around us. We look at churches in other countries where they are persecuted, put to death for the Gospel of Christ, and we are totally unaffected because we are so for away from it.

We don't hear about the thousands of people in Chinese prisons who are there because they proclaimed the gospel of our Lord and are having kidneys, hearts, livers, and other vital organs harvested from them, while they are alive, so that greedy people in other parts of the world can live while they slowly die, because they are relegated to living transplant donors who have no rights to protest such abuse.

We don't have the worries that they have. We are a blessed nation and we take it for granted and we are unthankful. We don't need to go out and preach, and save souls, because that is what all our churches are for, besides, we aren't educated enough to talk to anyone without making a fool out of ourselves. A lot of people think that if they throw money at their favorite charity or cause, then all the bad things just miraculously disappear, and they don't have to worry about those problems anymore, because money fixes everything and it makes the world go round.

We live in a place where some of our kids are on drugs, drinking alcohol and engaging in promiscuous sex while their parents dont even have a clue that these things are taking place right under their noses. They are so busy going about advancing their status in life that they just don't have time to pay attention to what is really happening around them. Then when the problems are exposed and they finally see something is wrong, that have been caught completely off guard, they are taken back. They look like deer when the lights shine on them, because they never would have suspected that anything like that, could fit into their carefully designed life style.

Good things only happen to good people, or so they think. Christians, don't believe everything your kids are telling you because they aren't giving you the whole story. You have to find out how they are spending their time, and what they are being exposed to, because they cannot be fully trusted to give you all the information you need because of all the peer pressure they are under from other young people they come into contact with. You know what I mean, because you yourselves are constantly being tested by the contacts you meet, and if given the chance to influence your life, they will corrupt you, even if it's just what they call a small innocent thing.

Sin is sin…can you be trusted ?

Our politicians are advancing their own causes, even if it's contrary to good morals, they are corrupted, because of the rewards that they and their family can benefit from later on, from those they have sold themselves out to. They pass laws that corrupt the meaning of what this country was founded on, they push the rights of the majority aside, to accommodate the rights of a minority that would love nothing more to make it so that you can't even mention the name of Jesus in your local churches.

Then when we find out about it we excuse it by saying “what else is new” instead of doing what we should to eliminate the corruption. Christians are more comfortable when we are sitting on our hands, giving up and telling ourselves that there's nothing that we can do, instead of speaking out and demanding a change, then fixing the damage done. We as Christians are called to be different, we are called to be a mouthpiece for righteousness, to call sin what it is and make no excuses for it. We are called to stand up for what is proper, to get involved to ensure that corruption has no place in our lives, laws, or government. We are entrusted with the gospel of Christ to bring about the changes in our lives, that benefit all those that we come into contact with. We are called to be Christ like, renewed in our minds, conformed, molded into his image and adorned with the Armor of God.

What does it mean to be entrusted ?

To trust is to have assured reliance on a person, a confident dependence on the character, ability, strength of someone, a total belief in them.

Trust is a big thing, it is a huge responsibility, and that is the type of relationship that God wants to have with us. It's the type of relationship we hope to have with those that we involve ourselves with in our everyday lives. We want friends that we can trust, who we don't have to worry about when we trust them with things that are of value to us like family, possessions, the emotional things that affect our lives. We want friends that are there when the times are tough, as well as when times are good. We want to be able to trust in our friends, with our lives, to be able to depend on them without fear of failure in our relationship . And just as we want to be able to entrust our friends in that way, God wants to entrust you with things that could cost you your life for his sake.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. "For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matt. 16:24-26

This verse in Matthew really asks us some very big questions about our relationship with Him. It is asking us to check our hearts and thinking, to see if we are in line with His will, it wants us to examine our relationship with God, then ask ourselves just how important Godly things are in our lives, what is of more value to us in this world, that you would be willing to risk everything just to have it ?

Jesus wants us to take a look at ourselves, to see if we are able to be entrusted to be in service to his will and kingdom without question , even if we are to pay the ultimate price in the end.

If it came down to that, what would you do ?

If you were given a choice to deny your faith or pay with your life, what choice would you make ?

It's easy to say you would choose too die while you sit comfortably in a church, but what if you were alone in a cell like those people in China and your organs were going to be taken to let someone else live, how would you really feel ?

Sure this might sound exaggerated and pretty extreme for an example to use, but I'm sure they don't think its extreme since its happening to them. Lets use an example that we can relate to... Is God able to rely on you when people are criticizing you, mocking and humiliating you, in front of other people or your friends ?

Can he entrust you to stand up for gospel principles without compromising your morals or will you just try to be as inconspicuous as possible so that no one notices you ?

Can he entrust you to do what is right every time instead of some of the time ?

Can he rely on you to do his will, even when you are the target of everyone's criticism?

Are you able to deny yourself enough to tough it out when your pride is hurt ?

Timothy summed it up when he said : And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2 Tim 3:12

If you can't handle just a little bit of persecution in your life now, then you better start learning how to develop some tough skin, and start reading that pretty little gold leafed book you carry with you in church ever Sunday, before things really hit the fan. If you're not ready now when things aren't bad, then you won't be ready when things are bad. Sure you can be saved and grounded anytime you want, but, you don't want to have to be saved, when you have to be saved.

Those who think they are Christians living here in America expect everyone to conform to what they think Christianity is, if you treat people nice and don't hurt anyone, then everything will be good. Don't offend them by preaching to them, talking about God, or telling them how to live, because if God really loves people then no one will go to hell, because I know that God can't be that mean. Only Bible Thumpers and fanatics believe God would condemn people.

Well I have some news that just might upset you then !!!.

"But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. "For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me." He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it. Matthew 10:33-39

Jesus loves everyone unconditionally, He wants all people to be saved and know him, to avoid hell and torment that comes with it, and be with him in his kingdom. But you have to know, that there is always conditions attached to that promise, and this scripture says it all. He wants to be able to entrust us with his work, He wants us to put his will first in our lives, even if it means we are forsaken by our family and friends. We have to know that he promises a greater reward for the sacrifices we make for him in this life, and there will be sacrifices.

In some cultures like the Muslim faith, if you accept Jesus as your savior, you will be disowned or even killed by your own family for doing that. That is the worst insult that can happen to you to them, and they would rather kill you than let you live, why do you think they hate Jews and Christians so much ?

All that is happening in the middle-east is because they hate Jews and Christians. Would God be able to entrust you to bring his word to them, so they can be saved, or would you give in to the fear and become ineffective ?

Would you be willing, to do what he was calling you to do, even if there is some surmountable risk involved ?

When people accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, He promises that we will have love, joy, peace, and happiness, and all the other fruits of the Spirit that come with the Christian life, that is his promise to us as long as we live in this world. But just because you accept him, and the blessings he wants to give you, you are still going to be tried in the fires to develop your character, to strengthen you, to help prepare you for spiritual war, to help you develop the thick skin that you will need to overcome this world.

Every Christian will be persecuted just as the scriptures say, but can you be entrusted with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which you have been entrusted ?

You can if you make up your mind to be...