I once heard of a small business who chooses its employee of the month 30 days in advance. And for *Mrs. Clarice, the owner, it’s purposefully random. She draws the name out of a hat at the first weekly team meeting of the month, and no employee gets chosen twice until everyone has a turn.
“But what if the person whose name you draw doesn’t deserve to be employee of the month?” asked a puzzled television news reporter. “Every single one of them has always lived up to the honor,” said Clarice with a wink. “I have faith in my people.”
God does that. He puts faith in His people and entrusts them with things —BIG things. Like when He told Abram, “To your descendants I will give this land.” – Genesis 12:7 (NIV)
He also restores and recalibrates people to their REAL life mission. Think Moses or Paul. You probably know all the Bible stories, so I won’t write a Sunday School lesson, but I do have a question:
With what has God entrusted you?
Here’s a brief story of my time as heaven’s employee of the month.
The evening before I assumed a key leadership position in my church, I fell asleep worried if I was up to the task. Later, I had a vivid dream.
As I walked through a crowded congregation, Brother Bob–a pastor from my youth–came up to me carrying a large ring of keys. As he pressed them into my hand he said, “Here you go. Now, take care of things.”
Of course, I spent most of my devotional time the next morning thinking about the dream! It really felt like God was sending me a message. But what?
Bro. Bob handed me KEYS. That must mean something!
I immediately thought of Peter’s confession of Christ in Matthew 16. Jesus told him, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” – Matthew 16:19 (NIV)
Now I understood! Bro. Bob–a much loved mentor from my youth–represented God. And by handing me the keys, He was saying, “I am empowering you to do this job. I have faith in you.”
I served in that church leadership position for two years. At times it was certainly a stretch (for me personally), but I never forgot about the proverbial keys in my pocket.
With God’s help, I lived up to the honor.
Now back to the question:
With what has God entrusted you?
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
*Mrs. Clarice, her company and the inquisitive reporter came out of my overactive imagination. But isn’t it a neat idea?! 😊
First Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
Second photo credit unknown.
