"41 Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people? ”42 And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. 45 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."
My fiance called me this morning and told me that Luke 12:48 was on his heart. He said he wasn't sure why, but that it may be a good blog topic for me today. So I looked into the scripture and then went into depth with it and looked at the entire parable. This is the parable of the good steward and although I have read it plenty of times, I received a lot of revelation from it this morning.
Luke 12:48 says: "...For everyone whom much is given, from him much will be required..." that's the part of the verse most people know best. Just to touch on that for a minute, where we tend to go wrong is in what we are given and/or what we have to give. Many people often mis-conclude that it has to be something material gained or given. Whether we are rich, middle class or poor, by societies' standards; we all have something to give: Money, time, love, encouragement, a skill - you get the idea. You can give of yourself and tithe in many ways.
Now, touching on the entire parable, it goes much deeper than that. God has given us dominion over all of the land. We are King's kids and we have inherited the good of the land! We are supposed to be good spearheads over all that God has given us. No matter how small or big our possessions we are to be fair and generous. Help those that can't, be a teacher to those who may not know better and keep your own house in order instead of trying to keep someone elses'. My Grandma used to tell my, "If all you have is one dress, you make sure that one dress is always clean and pressed and the best looking dress around. And wear it with pride..." Be a good steward over what you have. If you have 10 dresses and only wear 4 of them; bless someone or people with the other 6. You never know how much of a blessing you can be to someone until you extend yourself.
You will have God to answer to in the day of judgement for the things that you have not repented for. If you have down talked those around you and made yourself to be "bigger and better" than everyone around you, that prideful and arrogant sin will be dealt with in the time of judgement. Remember that what you have is not yours to hoard, it was given to you by God and can vanish even quicker than it came about. It's all in what kind of steward you are. If you possess a skill that you can bless others with, share your skill...help others around you in any way that you can. Granted, you may run a business based on teaching your skill, make sure you donate time as well. Don't make everything about the money. God blessed you with it, bless others.
Lastly, God will only hold us accountable for what we know. Now, that doesn't mean that you should not study parts of the bible and say "Lord I didn't know" that means if you read something and haven't received a full revelation on it, you will not be held accountable until you get that full revelation and understanding. If you are studying, like we all should be, the Holy Spirit will constantly bring revelation and understanding to all that you read. He will even bring revelation to certain situation that we face.
Just remember to check yourself and your spirit regularly and ask yourself..."Are you being a good steward over what you possess?"
