It’s The Little Things That Count!

2 Samuel 15; 2 Samuel 16; Psalm 32; Matthew 25
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Scripture

Matthew 25

14 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.
16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’
21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’
22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’
23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’
24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’
26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Observation

I just got back from a breakfast meeting with 10 guys and we discussed this very issue this morning. It is not the big things that trip us up, but the little things that cause us to fall deeper into sin and move us away from a close relationship with God and other people. It is taking that extra look when that attractive woman walks across our path. It is that one click that takes us to a web site that has pornography on it, or watching that bedroom scene on the television, or taking a look at the Victoria Secret catalog that came in the mail for your wife, it is those little things that take us away from where God would have us to be.

You might think that I have missed the point of the story that Jesus is talking about in this passage, but I am just trying to make a point. It is being faithful in the little things of life that is so important. God can give us more responsibility and God can bless us more when we are faithful with the little things in our lives.

Application

I want and I will be accountable to my band of brothers that I meet with every week.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, you know that I am very proud of the guys that I met with this morning. It was so cool listening to them express desires to be Christ like and openly talking about their struggles with what every man battles with…lust…sex…and yielding to temptation. I pray for them today that you give them strength to be all that you want them to be. Help them not to yield to those temptations that would cause them to give in to those little things that lead to bigger things that then lead to destruction. Guard their hearts today and I pray that you guard mine too. In Jesus Name Amen.

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