In Luke 19, Jesus tells a story of a wealthy man who went away for a time. He gave a portion of his finances to three of his servants. Each servant received a different sum. When the master returned, the two servants who had been given the most had doubled the initial amount. The one who’d been given the least had buried the money and returned to his master with the original amount.

Many would be inclined to think, hey, at least the last guy didn’t lose any of it. But what is that compared to the opportunity he had to double it?

‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘but to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, but from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.’

Luke 19:26 (NLT)

God has given us so much to begin with. Far more than the man who received the least from his master. Are we the first two who put it to use and make more from it? Or are we the weak man who feared the wrath of his master and did nothing but return what he started with?

Is doing something, anything at all, with what God has given us so difficult—even if what we have doesn’t seem like much? The story went on to say that the master would have been more pleased had the man put the money in the bank so it could have gained a little interest.

Many of us hesitate to do anything for the Lord because we perceive what we have as too little to bother. But how will you ever get anything more if you never do anything with what you’ve got? I’ve seen people in the church wither away because they refused to offer even a tiny portion of themselves. And I’ve seen others grow and thrive when they decided to set out with just a little.

If you want to see God do something in your life, you have to give Him something to work with. Rather than just give up because you perceive what you’ve been given to start with as too small to bother, do something. Do anything. Just use it.

Daily Bible reading: 2 Samuel 7-9, Luke 19:1-28