Faithful

There is a scripture that was brought to my mind this morning. At the time, I was thinking of projects and plans begun, but never continued nor finished. It is one of those scriptures that we learn and hear about from even the beginning of our walk. Jesus taught it when speaking about a master or ruler who returns and asks for an accounting of talents from his servants to whom he had given them. The master says to two out of three servants:
"His lord said unto him, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
                                                                      Mt. 25:14-30, Lk. 12:42
                                                      and
"And he said to him, "Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities."                      Lk. 19:17

When the scriptures had been brought to my mind, I stopped because I hadn't given much thought to them in a long time.
Usually, when we hear these scriptures, our attention is grabbed by the "ruler over many things", and "authority over ten cities". Our minds kind of quickly slide past the "few things", and "very little" parts.
It's the same with life. Often I am so focused on bigger things, what I think are more important things, that I want to get done in the Kingdom of God, that I neglect the "few things" as unimportant.
However, we may be surprised when we face Jesus, when He asks us about the small things, or the few things that He had assigned to our lives. We might give Him a blank stare, and tell Him how we struggled to accomplish huge things on His behalf, so we didn't have time to spend on those small things. They seemed so unimportant at the time. He might end up telling us that we were never supposed to tackle the huge things-the Father would accomplish those. We were to first be faithful to those few things that He gave us.
There are a couple of quotations that I am recording here:

"Be faithful in small things, because it is in them that your strength lies."
                                                  and
"God didn't call me to be successful. He called me to be faithful."

Both of these quotations are attributed to Mother Teresa. I think the second one is especially interesting.
Perhaps we confuse success with faithfulness. We view success in large things to be what our Father wants from us, and we burn ourselves out, and become grieved, trying to do His job. We carry the world's definition of "success" into our walk with God. 

Mother Teresa was a little nun who felt she was called to minister to the poorest of the poor, whom we seldom think about, in a place that we are never going to go. She should have lived her life out without us ever hearing of her. However, from that obscurity, came a ministry that impacted the world, and still continues to do so. I doubt if she took time to look for bigger things to accomplish. She must have spent most of her time doing what she had to do in order to minister to one starving, sick baby at a time. Just one at a time.

The world might not view as "successful" John the Baptist's preaching and baptism of repentance. The world still thinks of him as a wild man who was beheaded. He was by himself in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey, dressed in whatever items he could find. Even many of the people of his own day, according to Jesus (Mt. 11:7-9, 21:24-25), came to see him for the novelty interest, as well as to be baptized. Yet John accomplished the one thing God had assigned for his life: he identified the Messiah, the Lamb of God, in their midst.

Philip the Apostle had preached to hundreds, perhaps thousands, in Samaria, and showed great miracles of God there to confirm the Gospel of Christ, yet we know him best by the fact that he stopped to speak to one African servant (Acts 8). He explained a scripture to him, which brought out the whole Gospel, and he baptized the Ethiopian man. Would this one act have been his definition of a "successful" life in the Gospel?  Probably not, but this one encounter is why he is recorded for all time and history. He might have considered it a small thing at the time.

John the apostle was exiled to an island to be kept from communicating and preaching the Gospel. He might have felt he was a failure at that point, being kept from evangelizing, missing his greater calling. However, he was given a vision while in exile, and he faithfully wrote it down. That was what Jesus asked him to do:
"Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this."                               Rev. 1:19 (see also Rev. 1:11, 21:5)
 
Though John was prevented from personally preaching and evangelizing to many at this point in his life, he faithfully completed the few things he was asked to do. God provided the even greater things. He provided John's "Revelation of Jesus Christ" to all of us.
The world burdens, pressures, weighs down, and burns out to accomplish "success". Jesus said, however, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Who are we going to believe: Jesus, or the world?
I sometimes forget about the "few things", the small things, the light things, and wonder how I can build God's Kingdom single-handedly. I wonder how to be a "success" in my walk, and for the Kingdom, converting millions on this planet and beyond. How did God ever manage without me?!
Well, it starts and ends with the "few things". God handles the "much".
The day of the Master's return draws near, and the days of my natural life left here on earth are fewer than when I started. It's time to re-examine priorities, and review what the "few things" are that were to be accomplished in my life:
Am I faithfully attending and supporting the place of worship to which He first assigned me? Am I planting the seed that He gave me to sow where He has assigned me to sow it?
Am I living the Gospel in front of my family and friends?
Am I praying as the Spirit has prompted me?
Am I living and teaching Jesus to my children and grandchildren?
Have I been faithful and honorable in my employment and finances?
Did I give God glory when the opportunity arose, or did I take the credit myself?
Am I a giver, or a taker?
Do I use the talents and gifts He placed in me to bless Him and others, or to bless myself?
Did I honor and care for my parents as He would have had me to do, or was I too busy?
Did I welcome and treat people who came across my path as Jesus would do?
Did I not only start, but complete those few things that He asked me to do?
This is part of my list. Your "few things" list might be different. The items on my list probably won't save the whole world, nor change history, but you never know! They are however some of the "few things" that were assigned to my life. Father, help me, and remind me, to faithfully complete these things.

Our Father calls us to be faithful in the few things.

"Faithful Over a Few Things"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh7whEWnDaM

"Instruments of Peace"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBc4uxiXsfc

"Jehovah Knows"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswAKffJRKA