Faithful with Another’s

How we steward what we want, but another has, determines our ability to receive in that area.

Jesus illustrated this in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14–30). The servants who were faithful with what belonged to their master were entrusted with more. But the one who mismanaged what wasn’t even his to begin with lost everything. There is a lesson here on what “mismanagement” means, but that is for another day.

Jacob’s story gives us a living example of this principle. While working under his uncle Laban, Jacob longed for his own household and inheritance. Yet instead of withholding effort, he served faithfully. Laban himself admitted, “I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake” (Genesis 30:27). Jacob’s stewardship of another man’s flocks positioned him to later receive his own abundant blessing from God.

The principle is this: if we long for something—whether it’s influence, opportunity, resources, or even a spiritual gift—God often tests us first by seeing how we handle it when it’s in someone else’s hands. Do we envy, criticize, or compare? Or do we celebrate, honor, and support the one carrying it?

What if God has you in a place of service right now? How do you handle helping someone else reach their dreams when your own are yet unfulfilled? Faithfulness with “another man’s” (Luke 16:12) is God’s training ground for receiving our own. When we can rejoice in someone else’s blessing, authority, or opportunity, we position ourselves to receive what God desires to entrust to us. Like Jacob, we can become a channel of blessing wherever God places us.

(For more on this, you can watch Bethel’s Sunday AM Service)

Prayer

Father,

I want to be found faithful with what You have given me, and with what I have not yet received. Pour out Your grace in full measure, so that I may cooperate with Your good plans for others—trusting that Your good plan for me has not been forgotten. Like Jacob, let those I serve be blessed because of Your hand upon my life.

In Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.

Reflection Question

Where is God asking me to be faithful with what belongs to another, so that He can prepare me to receive what He has for me?