And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities
- Luke 19:17 (NKJV)
In God’s kingdom, faithfulness is the qualification for promotion and the divinely established pathway to increase. Increase is how God rewards our faithfulness. The word ‘faithful’ is an adjective used to describe a person who is reliable, trustworthy, dependable and loyal. It implies a steadiness in our work and a constancy of our allegiance to people, organizations and others.
We must always remember there is no shortcut to increase. Trying to create shortcuts will expose us to many complications and place us on the pathway to misery. The truth is that God's only way to increase is the way of faithfulness, and it is the quickest way to guarantee us sorrow-free increase.
Jesus is saying that this man was faithful with the little he was given to do. Some people want increase in their lives but are not willing to pay the price of dependability. They aren't reliable with the little that they have authority over, not realizing that how they manage less is proof of how they will manage more. If we do not have the willingness to put our best effort into doing the relatively little work that we have been assigned, how will we put our best effort into doing work that requires more effort?
Adopting a faithful lifestyle will also help us develop a strong and stable godly character, which will come in handy during our time of promotion and increase. People who lack this kind of character usually end up messing up great opportunities and bringing shame on themselves and others.
Beloved, you will come to the end of this year stronger and more stable than ever before, and God will reward you with great increase. This will surely be your best year thus far! Amen.
NKJV - New King James Version
AMP - The Amplified Bible
TLB - The Living Bible
ISV - International Standard Version
NIV - New International Version
MSG - The Message Translation
WEB - The World English Bible
TNLT - The New Living Translation
TEV - Today’s English Version
RSV - Revised Standard Version
GNB - Good News Bible
WNT - Weymouth New Testament
NASB -
New American Standard version
CEV - Contemporary English Version
TANT - The Amplified New Translation
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