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Faithfulness in Large and Small Things

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?”
Luke 16:10–12
In 1899, a magazine editor named Elbert Hubbard, who needed to fill one additional page with copy, dashed off a brief essay in one hour that told the story of an unsung hero of the Spanish American War who had undertaken and completed the difficult task of delivering a message from President McKinley to a rebel leader in Cuba. “A Message to Garcia” was eventually reprinted more than forty million times, and its emphasis on being willing to serve faithfully challenged generations to do what they could even in tasks that seemed small.
The temptation that we face is to cut corners in small things, rather than taking them seriously and being faithful and diligent. As someone once said, “Even if the task is not worthy of you, diligence is.” Those who claim they would be faithful if the job were more important or the financial sums involved were higher are not telling the truth. Faithfulness is a character trait that does not depend on circumstances but on what lies within our hearts and minds.
We have no basis to expect God to entrust more to us if we are not being faithful with what we already have. The things already given to us form a test of what we would do with larger opportunity. It is not what we claim with our mouths, but what we demonstrate with our deeds that measures our faithfulness. And it is not in the future but in the present that faithfulness must be shown.

Today’s Growth Principle: 

Faithfulness does not begin with large tasks—if it is not present in small things, it does not exist at all.

The Spirit of Adoption

by Joyce Meyer - posted July 09, 2016

For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!
—Romans 8:15
The apostle Paul teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption. The word adoption means that we are brought into the family of God, even though we were previously outsiders, unrelated to God in any way. We were sinners and separated from God, but God in His great mercy redeemed us, purchased us, and brought us close to Him once again through the blood of His own Son.
We understand adoption in the natural sense. We know that some children without parents are adopted by people who purposely choose them and take them as their own. What an honor to be chosen on purpose by those who want to pour out their love on them.
This is exactly what God did for us as believers in Christ. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we are now eternally part of His family, and His Spirit dwells in our spirit and cries out to the Father. God the Father decided before the foundation of the world was laid that anyone who loved Christ would be loved and accepted by Him as His child. He decided He would adopt all those who accepted Jesus as their Savior. We become heirs of God and joint heirs with His Son, Jesus Christ.
It is the knowledge of our family relationship to God that gives us boldness to go before His throne and let our requests be made known.