I want to thank God for the life of Timothy Biggers King. He died this week at the young age of 48. A godly Christian husband and father, friend and a hard-working steward at Brookshire’s Food Stores headquarters in Tyler, TX. Even though it was a short life, it was well lived. He will be missed. I give God thanks for what He accomplished in my friend’s 48 years here on earth and I look forward to an eternity of fellowship with him in the eternity of heaven with Jesus Christ.
We are still looking at Matthew 25 verses 14 to 30, where the Master has entrusted 3 stewards with certain amounts of money to take care of while he goes off on a long trip. When he returned, he called the 3 stewards to give an account. Two were faithful in the task, while the third was not. The text does not specifically give the reactions of the faithful stewards when their master complements them "Well done" and blesses them with greater responsibility. But put yourself in their place for a moment. Have you ever been highly praised at your work for a job well done? Have you ever experienced the exhilaration of completing a task to the full expectation of the one who assigned it? If you are a good boss, you should extend your gratitude to those who work with and for you or your department. Don’t just let them hear about it when they fail to meet up with your expectations. Tell them ‘thank you’ and when possible, the verbal thanks should also be rewarded with additional responsibility and rank in your organization. In this passage, the Master rewarded each of the faithful stewards with more.
The bottom line on this is that we need to thank the Lord for whatever He puts into our hand. Sometimes, we act as if we have a right to a certain standard of living. No. If it all belongs to God, only God has a right to any of it. You know when you think about it, all we really have are responsibilities. Therefore, whatever God gives us is more than we deserve. For what He gives, may we be truly thankful!
My friend, Tim King, is no longer here on earth. His time to accomplish things here on earth is over. Take a moment right now and thank God for what He has given you: life, time, a family, a place to live, food, an opportunity to work, the privilege of giving, .... all things.
I remember Herschel Hobbs relating a story of a guy who was known for his generosity. The man was asked how he became such a big giver. He replied, “By tithing my first week’s salary of $2.50.” Then Hershal said, "Few people learn to tithe the much if first they have not learned to tithe the little."
