“Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Have you ever wanted more? Your first thought to that question was probably: More of what? Well, anything for now. Have you ever wanted more? I sure have. I’ve wanted more of a lot of things. In fact, there are not many things I haven’t wanted more of. The real question to answer seems to be not, do we want more, but how do we get more? Jesus has a thought here. 

What Jesus offers us in this verse (whose context we discussed at length in the last couple of notes here and here) is one of the best ways to get more, but whose other side is an all but guaranteed way to lose it. 

So, how do we get more? We practice faithfulness with less. When we have just a little bit of something, we take the best care of it we possibly can. We guard it from harm and loss. We work to advance its interests at the expense of our own. We consistently use it in the way it was designed to be used. We are faithful with it. 

Another way to think about this is our habits. When we practice faithfulness with just a little bit of something, we are setting in place habits that will shape us going forward. If, for example we have a tendency to waste money when we have hardly any of it, having more of it will not suddenly make us penny-pinchers. We’ll just waste more of it. 

If we have a tendency to blow deadlines when we are dealing with pretty insignificant activities or events, being put in charge of something more won’t suddenly make us experts at time management. If we are faithful with a little, we’ll be faithful with a lot. If we are unfaithful or unrighteous with a little, we’ll be unrighteous with a lot. 

Putting this idea in context, when God has given us a little bit of His kingdom to manage, we should keep this principle firmly in mind and work to advance our portion of His kingdom as shrewdly as possible so that He will be able to trust us with more of it. 

Sometimes opportunities come to those who haven’t earned and don’t deserve them. And sometimes those who are most deserving never get a shot. Those are both truths of our broken and unjust world. But the most and best opportunities tend to come to those who have worked hardest to receive them, who have shown themselves most able to manage them well. 

If you want a shot at more, make the most of what you have now. Be faithful with your little, set in place good habits with the small, and the odds are good that you’ll eventually get the chance to experience more.