Tears of joy are trickling. Answers to prayers are rolling in from a kind Father. I can feel the Lord laughing with us. He delights in answering his children when they call. And it pleases him when we give him the credit for these good things. Just finished talking to a close relative on the phone. She reported good news about relationships for her kids starting at new schools. I couldn’t stop laughing and crying at her stories of blessings. There was good news about work being finished on their new house so they can move in soon. She closed the conversation by saying that although the past year has been hard with all the challenges and losses of Covid, in spite of it all, God has blessed her in so many ways. This year she has married a kind, godly man who works hard and makes time for his family. They are buying a house which is being built in a small town away from big city crime where they have been living. Last week a high speed chase between two civilian cars nearly killed a young person walking on the sidewalk near their current house. One car raced thru a Stop sign, jumped a curb, and plowed through a neighbor’s fence popping all four tires. The sound was like gunfire and sent her children to the floor as they were trained to do. Then they ran down to the basement for safe shelter. Last year, a teenager collapsed on their front lawn from gunshot wounds. Once in their new house, they will live in a safe neighborhood with a safe park to walk to. The new schools are scholastically advanced and the kids there have welcomed her children although their skin color is different. They are starting a new life. And she is giving God the credit for all these good things. 
Acknowledging that all our good things come from his kind hand is so important. When we stop to think about it, all our good things have been a gift. Who gave us a mind and a body that could accomplish things? Who put us in a time and place where we have opportunities? Yes, the gift is God’s part and our part is to work and make the most of those gifts. We are stewarding what was given to us and we have choices about how we do that. We also have choices about our attitude toward the Giver. These make all the difference.
The Lord Jesus told a story about a boss and his three workers. The boss gave one person a lot while another was given less than half as much. And the third person was given half as much as the second person. Then the boss gave all of them complete freedom to decide how to steward the gifts they were given. We might assume that the one who was given the most had an advantage and therefore won the most reward and praise from his boss in the end. But that isn’t actually what happened.
“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. 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.
“The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
“After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 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.’
“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!’
“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.’
“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!’
“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. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’
“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, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
“Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance.” Matthew 25:14-28
In the end, the first two workers got equal reward and they got an equal amount of praise from their boss because they were both faithful with what they were given. Faithfulness, it turns out, is more important than how much gifting. Which is why the the third person was punished instead of praised. He wasn’t chastised for having little to work with, he was chastised for not working. He refused to make use of what he was given and he had a wrong opinion about his boss. He didn’t faithfully work with what he had, instead he excused himself by blaming his boss for his poor outcome. If faithfulness is of primary importance, then comparing what we have or do with what others have and do is useless. If we keep using what we’ve been given with a heart to please our Boss, we can expect his approval. After all, he knows exactly what we started out with and won’t expect more than he knows we can do.
Faithfulness is rewarded
Character is more important than gifting
We’re responsible for what we have, not for what we don’t have
Let’s go back to our dear one’s list of blessings. She married a godly man. But did this loving relationship land in her lap already developed? Clearly, this man is a gift from God, but there is a great deal of personal responsibility involved. She had to desire a man who loved God. Both of them had to be individually obedient to God and then agree to their part in the relationship. Leadership had to be agreed upon, praying together, talking over Scripture and how to live it, forgiving each other, respecting each other, being faithful to each other all had to happen to make a happy marriage. The new house in a safe community- did that fall out of the sky? After searching for months, and several failed offers, they dispaired of ever getting their own home. But God obviously intervened and led them to this particular, affordable builder. But they both had to work hard to earn enough money to qualify for the loan. They had to be disciplined to save for the down payment. They had to deny themselves some things in order to afford the house. Then the new schools which offer her children a better education and atmosphere is such a good gift from God, yet the children must study hard and be a friend to get friends. They have to be open to change and doing things differently. They must good naturally accept looking different than their classmates. These huge blessings came from the hand of the Lord and they chose to faithfully obey him and use the opportunities they were given.
How’s our IQ? Not Intelligence Quotient, but Initiative Quotient? Are we showing our gratitude for what we’ve been given by using it faithfully to please God?