How we show up is often dependent on who’s in the audience. And we’re more likely to give our best with those we’re trying to impress, while we accept mediocrity for those we’re not. But faithful stewardship means whatever we’re doing we’re doing so to please God much more than others.
On the one hand, it’s true we can only give 100%. While we might grow in our capacity, we can still only do what we can do. And this means we must fail somewhere, as we don’t have the bandwidth to do everything on our plates to full measure.
But this is not an excuse to shortchange the work that is ours to do or to play favorites simply to look good in front of others.
God has given us each a gift for doing certain things well. And as freely as we have received this gift we’re to offer it to others without partiality.
And so, we offer the best of our gift whether it’s for our paid employment, as a volunteer, or for charity work. We don’t measure our gift based on the audience but on who God has called us to be.
Of course, wisdom is still needed. Every battle is not ours and we’re not expected to pour our gift into every worthy cause. But we must still offer our best to those things God has called us to do, regardless of how prestigious it might appear to others.
To be sure, it’s nice when our gift gives us the opportunity to shine and be admired by others. But we don’t hold back just to wait on this admiration. We give our best because this is the least we can do to serve the God who has so richly blessed us.
In the end, whatever you do, do so with excellence to please God, even when the work seems otherwise humble and lowly.
Photo by Clark Young on Unsplash
