“And the Lord said, Who then is that
faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over His household,
to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom
his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.”
Let each of us take the above question home
to our own souls today, and by its searching light discover whether we are so
fulfilling our duties as to deserve the following blessing pronounced upon
faithful stewards of Christ’s Household. Are we indeed faithfully taking charge
of and wisely dispensing the Heavenly bounty committed to our charge; or are we
content with seeking to fill ourselves with good things and sending the hungry
away?
It is a question which none of us must pass
lightly over, for it is certain that all of us belong to either one or the
other of the two classes of servants described in the twenty-second chapter of
St. Luke.
Of the first we read that he is faithful and
wise, qualities indispensable to a good steward, and then we see his duties defined as we read further that his Master has made him “ruler over His
household to give them their portion of
meat in due season.”
How much is implied in these few words. We
must administer the “Bread of Life” to the hungering souls around us, and not
only are we to give them their “portion” according to their present need, but
we must give it “in due season.” How many times may we have been selfish and
careless, forgetting the wants of our brethren in some moment of
self-gratification or ease.
O, if we are ever
tempted to withhold from any longing souls their portion of the heavenly meant
with which God has entrusted us, let us look at the other picture of that
unfaithful steward, and let it sound for us a note of timely warning. We read
first of that wicked servant that he begins to say in his heart, “My Lord
delayeth His coming,” and it is because he ceases to watch daily, hourly for
the return of his absent Lord that he presumes to “beat the men-servants and
maid-servants and to eat and drink to be drunken.”
Instead of relieving the
wants of his brethren, he increases them by precautions, and thus every
professing Christian who is not living a life of full consecration to the Lord,
throws obstacles in the path of Christ’s true followers, and causes them many a
hardship and pain by such inconsistent conduct. And this wicked servant, at
last, entirely forgets the interests of his Master’s House, and loses all
consciousness of spiritual things, in the revelry and false pleasure of “this
present, evil world.”
Alas, that there should
be so many today who profess to belong to Christ’s Household and yet who use
that blessed position only to serve their own selfish ends. Terrible is the
doom pronounced on such: “The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he
looketh not for Him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in
sunder, and will appoint him his portion
with the unbelievers.”
Beloved, are we constantly drawing stores from our
Lord’s Storehouse that we may have wherewith to feed the spiritually hungry, to
cheer the desponding, to raise the sick, and in short, to give each as he has
need? O, let us who have received so largely of our Lord’s bounty, seek the
wisdom from above to enable us to use it to Christ’s glory, “For unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have
committed much, of him they will ask the more.”
Again, are we watching
with eager hearts for our Master’s appearance, “that when He cometh and
knoweth” we may “open unto Him immediately”? If so, then our hearts may well
gladden at the Saviour’s words: “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when
He counteth shall find watching: verily I say unto you that He shall gird
Himself and make them to sit down to meat and will come forth and serve them.”
O, will not that joyful feast-time by and by, repay us for the little time of
self-denial and patient service now? Do not our hearts thrill at the thought of
our own dear Lord’s coming forth to serve us as we sit at meat in His Kingdom.
But meanwhile we must
wait and watch, and we must remain in this attitude, watching,-not ourselves
and our own needs, but to supply the needs of our fellow-servants, and with
them watching for the return of our blessed Lord. Surely, if we are thus watching
for Him we shall have no eyes for the vanity of the world, no ears for its
alluring calls, and no appetite for its intoxicating pleasures. We shall have
no leisure for foolish gaiety, for inventing frivolities “to pass away the
time;” we shall find the hours and moments full of the sweet solemnity for
duty, and we shall experience an indescribable joy in the heart-stillness which
waits upon God.
“Surely, I come quickly,”
sounds that blessed voice from above. How many of us are ready to give the response
of yearning love, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus”?
***
If our faith is dim and weak, is it not because our
consecration is imperfect? By retaining self-life in our hearts, are we not
making it impossible to believe in God fully, and to trust Him confidingly, and
to obey Him implicitly? Absolute and unconditional surrender to God is a
necessary pre-requisite to the faith that staggers not at the promise of God
through unbelief. “Beloved, if our heart
condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.” –D. Clark.
