Faithfulness
His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” – Matthew 25:21 NKJV.
Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. – 1 Corinthians 4:2 NKJV.
In 2004 at a pastor’s conference, I heard Pastor Paul Negrut from Romania preach. Negrut shared that there were 600 Baptist churches in Romania when communism collapsed, and 90% of those churches were without pastors. He talked about the first crusade that was held after the collapse of communism in Romania by Luis Palau. Negrut said that they started not to even go to the stadium where the crusade was being held; because it was pouring down rain, and they thought no one would come in the rain.
When Pastor Negrut arrived at the stadium where the crusade was being held, he said it was overflowing with people. Palau preached and he gave the invitation that if any wanted to receive Christ as their Savior to come forward. Negrut said that the whole stadium full of people began to move forward in response to the invitation. Palau thought that they must have misunderstood, and so he gave the invitation again. And, again the whole stadium began moving forward to receive Christ as their Savior.
Pastor Negrut urged the pastors present at the conference in 2004 to not see things just as they are, but as they could become. He said that we need to have a vision to have the ability to do what you can with what you have – a vision based on God’s Word. Someone had a vision to have a Luis Palau crusade in Romania after the collapse of communism. Even with their vision to have the crusade, they must have been surprised at the overwhelming response. Vision to look beyond what the world says is possible, to what God can do is important, not just for pastors, but for every child of God.
In order, to have vision, to have passion, what is needed is character. To have character, there must be faithfulness. As Jesus says in Luke 16:10, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.” From where does faithfulness come? The Bible tells us in Galatians 5: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh…But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:16; 22-23).” Do you want to have vision? If so, you need character, and to have character you need faithfulness. Be faithful even in the small things!