1 Corinthians 4:2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
There is so much “gotcha” in our day and age. People seem to be always looking for each other’s weaknesses, ready to pounce like a lion on a gazelle. What a sad state of affairs, that we can’t celebrate the greatness of God’s image in our fellow human beings.
Can you imagine if we were looking for strengths, and celebrating strengths, giving a place to be exercised. The reality is, we all some some strengths. Sometimes they have been buried in the back yard and need to be exhumed, but they are there. Let’s get a shovel!
As Paul is addressing the believers in the city of Corinth, he needs to establish a baseline of authority in order to strengthen them. And because they have attacked his authority, the authority that brought them to Jesus in the first place, then all authority is under attack. So Paul gives us the certificate of authenticity that authority can post.
Faithfulness at carrying out the task assigned is the mark of authority. This is what Paul means by a trust. Someone has trusted you to do something on their behalf. You are not there on your own authority, but carry the authority of the one who sent you.
We carry out trusts every day. Our spouse asks us to pick up a gallon of milk on our way home from work. We pick it up. We have fulfilled their trust. The task has been completed. Receive the instructions, complete the task, report back. We complete the trust loop.
Carrying out a trust is a sacred duty, even when the task is a human one. That is because what we promise, what we say we are going to do, reflects on our character, and by extension, on the character of the One we serve. If we claim Jesus as the One in charge of our life, then our word reflects either positively or negatively on Him.
Notice that Paul does not say that it is suggested that those who have been given a trust should prove faithful. He said required and must. There is no wiggle room, no compromise here. If we are going to accept a trust, then we are required to be, we must, prove faithful. To do anything less would be failure.
Now we don’t like to even use that word today, failure. To assign the word failure to an action, means that there is a standard by which success will be measured, and in our society, which is so averse to shaming anyone (accept certain “racists”), is in the process of abandoning what have been our societal standards. We now live in an “everything goes” culture, or at least in the culture social media portrays as the new desired norm.
Paul has carried out his ministry faithfully. He carried the message of the freedom from sin and its death-grip, to a people who were thought to be excluded from God’s favor. And they have accepted God’s offer. This is the mystery Paul proclaimed, that all could come freely and be accepted, without preconditions or exception clauses.
Are we being faithful with the trust the LORD has given us? Are there areas where we have held back, buried our treasure instead of putting it to work?
The Arnold Journey 