You Have Been Faithful

14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

~Matthew 25:14-30

If you have been around church and the Bible for any amount of time, I'm guessing you're familiar with this parable. So familiar, perhaps, that you skimmed over the reading above - because you're busy, and besides, you already know what it says?
If you find the previous sentence convicting, please take two minutes and read the above passage slowly. Ask God to speak to your heart.

Really.
I'll wait.

What stood out to you as you read this passage?
You might know from the title of this post the phrase which stood out to me.

You have been faithful.

I mean, I know there are a lot of things going on in this parable and many lessons which can be learned. But that one statement is speaking loudly to my heart today.
The master called his servant who turned five bags of gold into ten faithful. He called the servant who turned two bags of gold into four faithful. (And I have a feeling he would have called the third servant faithful, too, if he had put his own bag of gold to work.) The master had given wealth to his servants according to their ability and he was delighted by their faithfulness.
I do not see any indication that the master was more delighted with the servant whose efforts produced more bags of gold. Or that he was less delighted with the servant whose efforts produced a smaller number. It was their faithfulness which pleased him.
And this idea of delighting the Master by faithfulness has me thinking about how we operate and perceive things in our world today.
Isn't it true that we often see the people with five (or two) bags of gold, producing five (or two!) more bags, and we think, Wow. I wish I was gifted like he/she is. Wouldn't God be pleased if I was a part of making that kind of impact on the Kingdom? We relinquish any ideas of pleasing our Master as we think, I'll just sit over here with my one bag. Nobody will notice, anyway. And we sit there with our bag, feeling ashamed that we don't have more with which to produce more, not realizing our Master gave us that one because He wanted us to be faithful with that one. Because He knew that one would make a world of difference to someone.
Yeah. Sometimes I feel small and insignificant. Sometimes I think I have nothing to offer. I don't speak to huge audiences. This little blog doesn't have a large readership. My reach doesn't go very far. Honestly, if I disappeared not much would change in the world.
But that statement echoes in my heart.

You have been faithful.
You have been faithful.
You have been faithful.
You have been faithful.
You have been faithful.
You have been faithful.

I believe faithfulness is what matters to my Master, and I want to delight His heart.
So I'm going to take this one little bag of gold I have, and I am going to put it to work.
With the help and guidance of His Spirit, I am going to use my little bag to bring glory to my Master.
And I pray that when I see Him face to face I will hear Him say,
Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful.

What are you doing with your bag(s)?