The Faithful and Sensible Steward: Delivering the Grain

"And the Lord said, 'Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.'" Luke 12: 42-43 NASB

We've spent the last few days on these two verses. Jesus is looking  for faithful and sensible servants. We've learned that "giving rations" is a little like "feed my sheep." Doing the will of the Father was nourishment to Jesus and it should be to us, as well. Yesterday, we learned that healing broken hearts (those of the people around us) should be one of the objectives of our service.(Click the links to read the previous posts in this series.) 

Today, we turn to the task of the steward who is put in charge. Usually, the one who is in charge assigns the jobs and those "under" him do the work. In Jesus' hierarchy, it's exactly opposite. In the Kingdom of God, the one in charge does the work. 

Sitometrion is a Greek word translated here as "their rations" and is used only once in Scripture. It literally means "a measured portion of grain." The one given authority by Jesus is not moved into a position distant from the people he serves. Jesus gives authority that moves us closer to the people we serve. 

In Jesus' system of administration, a promotion is to the front lines of service, not to a lofty corner office. He promotes to handing out grain, not handing down edicts. 

It's a surprising system, isn't it?

I like the corner office. I prefer the big promotion that allows manicured nails and well-tailored suits.

The problem with the corner-office promotion is that it provides an additional layer, or two or three, from the very work that earned us the promotion, from the people we intended to serve. We end up serving more paperwork (even if digitally) than persons.

Are we serving Jesus in "front line" ways? Are we touching lives up close or living a remote, lofty kind of faith that is isolated from the people we were called to serve? 

When I give God my hands, He uses them in the most unexpected ways. It rarely ever requires a nice manicure to accomplish His work.

If we are faithful servants of Christ, we should be present with the people we serve.

Let's take a careful look at the service we give to our Lord. Are we serving as "ration givers" or not? Are we delivering the bread of life to those around us? If not, why not?

We have a personal, one-on-one God who knows us intimately and loves us anyway. We can do no less than serve as He served, love as He loved.

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Dear Father, forgive us for giving more than serving, for serving ourselves more than those in need. Help us to have servants hearts. Make us servants to those You love. In Jesus' name, Amen.